Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Right on Rangers is where Rangers fans ride the season in real time.
The LIVE shows are the heartbeat. Big wins, ugly losses, bullpen chaos, breakout heaters, trade rumors, roster debates, and the takes that come with actually caring about this team.
Sometimes those takes get hot. That’s part of watching 162 with people who are invested. But the reaction still has receipts. We use stats, film, history, roster context, and what’s happening on the field to figure out what the game actually revealed.
Between LIVE shows, we go deeper on the players, decisions, stories, and moments shaping Texas baseball.
Rangers first, always. When the calendar turns, the Cowboys, Longhorns, Mavericks, and the biggest Texas sports stories get their run too.
If you want sterile box-score recaps, this probably isn’t your show. If you want passionate Rangers talk with actual baseball underneath it, welcome in.
Everybody wants to talk about Arch Manning after
the UTSA game.
And look, I get it.
17 of 33 for 164 yards, 2 touchdowns,
no interceptions.
That's not a passing performance I'm going to
sit here and pretend looked great.
It didn't.
But I actually think there was something more
interesting that Texas showed us in that 30
-6 win.
They didn't need Arch Manning to be the
reason they won.
And 3 games into this season, I'm starting
to notice something about this Texas team.
They've won 3 very different football games with
3 different parts of the team doing the
heavy lifting.
And I'm starting to wonder if that is
becoming one of the strengths of this team.
Or maybe the flip side is true.
Maybe Texas is still waiting to put the
complete version of itself on the field.
That's what I want to figure out today.
Because we can spend 30 minutes saying Arch
needs to be better before Tennessee.
Everybody else is already doing that.
And again, he does need to be better.
But I think there is a much more
interesting conversation here.
What does Texas look like when Arch Manning
is not the reason it wins?
Because against UTSA, we got an answer.
And it was still a 24-point win.
Hi and welcome to another edition of Right
on Rangers with Austin Beckman.
Coming at you after a 30-6 Texas
Longhorns victory over UTSA.
And here at Right on Rangers, by the
way, we cover everything Texas sports.
We put a big emphasis on the Longhorns
during the college football season.
And we thank you for choosing Right on
Rangers for all of your Longhorns content.
Well, 3 games, as we were saying in
the opener.
3 primary engines, 3 different ways Texas figures
out a way to win.
Against Texas State, the offense was the obvious
engine.
I don't really think you need to look
any further than the 59 points.
Arch threw 4 touchdowns.
Texas went 11 of 15 on 3rd down.
The box score in that regard kind of
speaks for itself.
Against Ohio State, it was about surviving long
enough to respond.
Texas erased a 23-3 deficit in that
4th quarter and they won through toughness, smothers,
Sark's aggression, and a defense that closed the
game.
Against UTSA, Texas didn't need offensive fireworks.
It ran for 228 yards, defended the out
of them, and got 3 field goals from
Gianni Spetic, who hasn't gotten a ton of
opportunities this year, but he's made it count
when he has.
Look, that's encouraging at the end of the
day because good teams eventually have days when
their plan A is not going to carry
them.
But I don't want to romanticize inconsistency by
any means either here.
Winning different ways is great, but needing a
different rescue every week because something else is
malfunctioning?
That's a different story.
And by the way, you've got a 59
-7 victory over Texas State.
Ohio State was 24-23, of course.
UTSA, 30-6.
Now, speaking of, I want to really get
into and dive into what UTSA actually showed.
I know Arch has gotten a lot of
the headlines, and he's been in the headlines
a lot lately for non-football reasons, but
I digress.
What UTSA actually showed me, and the part
that impressed me most about the game, wasn't
simply just 6 points allowed.
Once Texas settled in, UTSA basically stopped sustaining
offense.
If you love defense, this was 1000%
the game for you.
Over UTSA's final 9 possessions, Texas allowed only
84 yards.
They forced 8 different punts and held them
0-9 on 3rd down.
That's truly incredible.
And I really do feel strongly, all of
the Arch Manning critique, all of the Arch
Manning in the offensive talk, really is overshadowing
a dominant defensive performance.
And I don't feel like this is unlike
past years, when you had a little bit
of the Quinn Ewers criticism, critique, discussion overshadowing
a really good defense as well on the
other side.
You think about Jaday Barron.
You think about some of the big names
that have gone in the draft over the
last few years.
Texas has had some really good defensive units.
But naturally, I mean, much like Dak Prescott
with the Cowboys, you've got a quarterback controversy,
a quarterback dialogue that is often taking up
a lot of space in the media.
And you've got a defense not getting the
flowers that it truly deserves.
UTSA, by the way, had scored a touchdown
in 74 straight games.
And Texas ended that streak.
Sark was real quick to call that one
out on the show.
That tells me that the defense did exactly
what you wanted from a game like this.
No letting a lesser opponent hang around because
of busted coverage or sloppy third downs.
And look, Heupel, the coach for Tennessee, man,
he is already talking about this Texas front
seven and gap integrity as one of the
biggest challenges Tennessee has seen.
Tennessee staff has been specifically highlighting this defensive
front and the ability to limit the explosive
plays.
We will see how the defense travels for
the first time to Knoxville.
I imagine they will travel pretty well.
I am not too worried about this defensive
unit showing out.
I do think the offense is a bit
of a different story.
And that is a brilliant segue.
Now let's talk about this is what we're
seeing right now in these three victories.
Is it really the Longhorns being very versatile
in the ways they can win or is
it incompleteness?
Here is the part where we cannot dodge
the offense just because we found a fresher
angle.
Texas was seven for 17 on third down
and they were 0-for-2 on fourth down.
Passing game averaged under five yards per attempt.
I don't think that's what anyone really wants
to see before we go to Knoxville for
the first SEC match of the year.
Still Texas is converting more than half of
their third downs on the season so I
don't think you can look at what happened
on Saturday as proof of some permanent third
down problem.
Hopefully just a blip on the radar.
I do think UTSA showed Texas can survive
an inefficient passing game.
You know that doesn't mean Texas should expect
the same margin against Tennessee.
I think that they are going to have
a lot less margin for error when they
go to Knoxville on Saturday morning.
So look, I keep coming back to this.
Adaptability is absolutely a strength.
Being able to win different ways, 1000%
it's a strength.
But we still need to see what happens
when all of the different pieces all show
up together.
Now as we do dive into this matchup
in Knoxville against Tennessee, I do think there
are some boring things that really could end
up mattering in this game.
First of all, Gianni Spetic, we mentioned him
earlier, 5 for 5 on field goals this
season.
He hit from 52 against UTSA, made 3
field goals on Saturday.
I do think he could play a pretty
major part in this game on the road.
You don't talk about special teams a lot
when you are discussing the Longhorns who have
Arch Manning and a lot of big name
players on offense.
Cam Coleman, they've got some pretty solid players
on defense as well.
Biles, Simmons, you've got a lot of big
names on this team.
You're not necessarily hyping up the kicker.
But I do think in a game like
this on the road, special teams could play
a really significant factor.
I mean, look, I get that nobody fired
up this podcast, hyped up about field goal
range.
But still, you know, if it's 4th and
6 at the Tennessee 35 on Saturday, I
do think that you have a weapon in
Spetic and you are going to be able
to make some interesting decisions.
I think maybe potentially a lot less interesting
knowing that you've got that in your back
pocket.
You know, road SEC football, it is a
beast and it can turn stalled drives into
three-point decisions really quickly.
And having that legitimate range 100% expands
your margin in that regard.
So on deck, where does this margin disappear?
Texas going to Neyland Stadium against a 3
-0 Tennessee team ranked what?
14-13.
And by the way, they just ran for
268 yards against Kennesaw State.
Whoop-dee-doo, right?
I mean, I know not a lot of
us are probably looking at that matchup as
a big tell for this game.
I don't think Tennessee has seen anyone even
close to the Longhorns level.
You got sophomore running back Daune Morris running
for 116 in that game, by the way.
A freshman quarterback, Faizon Brandon, excuse me, sorry
if I butchered the name.
He's the guy Texas has to deal with
on the other side.
And look, Tennessee has multiple ways to run
the football.
Heupel has already identified that Texas front seven
as the collision that he's watching.
It is going to be a very good
test in terms of the running game for
the defense 100%.
The first three games showed that Texas can
win with different parts of the roster carrying
different loads.
And I think Knoxville is going to be
the first place where Texas is going to
need several of those answers at the same
time.
But I do think that the defense ultimately
is what is going to be the tone
setter in this game.
And I think you hope the defense can
naturally, with their elite play, take some pressure
off Arch.
I think there's going to be a lot
of eyes on Arch, on the offense, on
Sark, the play calling to really look a
lot better than what it did against UTSA.
Nevertheless, I think you double down on the
defense.
If the defense can continue to play at
the level that they have been playing this
year against, you know, Ohio State in the
second half, especially against UTSA, against Texas State,
you aren't going to need as much from
your offense.
And I think right now that's probably the
way you would prefer it.
So let's lay in this thing.
First of all, I think Texas State showed
you the offensive ceiling of this team.
I do think that there is a lot
of room for offensive improvement, and I've been
very consistent with that take all season long
thus far.
I think that some people are starting to
try and make up their minds about Arch
and about Sark and what level of elite
this offense is really going to be able
to get to.
I think Texas State showed you you're going
to have opportunities in the passing game.
You are going to be able to exploit
some matchups.
I put out a video, what, maybe a
week and a half ago, like Cam Coleman,
Wingo, Smothers, you've got way too many weapons
on offense for there not to be a
guy in a one-on-one that you
can exploit.
It's really just going to be about Arch
going through the reads, being able to see
the field easier said than done.
There's going to be somebody open at some
point.
And I understand some people, yeah, Texas State,
come on, man.
Nevertheless, I don't think it takes away a
state or whether it's Tennessee, you can't double
cover everybody.
And so somebody is going to a have
to win a matchup, but Arch is going
to have to find those open matchups.
And I do believe that the best is
still yet to come.
Ohio State speaking up, they showed that game
showed the ability to survive adversity and finish.
You've got a team that's been down and
has resiliently fought back and won a huge
football game.
Granted you were at home, you weren't on
the road.
And if Texas gets into trouble on the
road in Knoxville, it's going to be interesting
to see how the team responds, but I'm
not sure it gets worse than being down
20 points to a team like Ohio State.
You were in the friendly confines of DKR,
but still, I do feel like the Longhorns
were battle tested in that game.
They should be able to take that confidence,
whether they're playing at home or on the
road.
I do think on the flip side of
the Texas state argument, talking about the offensive
ceiling, UTSA in that game, I think really
showed you that the floor might be higher
than just one quarterback stat line.
I know that so many people are going
to go to that arch box score, see
what the numbers are, how many yards did
he throw for interceptions, touchdowns, rushing yards, all
that.
I think the floor is actually higher than
what arch can do because of the defense,
because of the special teams units.
It's stuff that isn't going to get a
lot of highlight reel time per se, but
I think this team actually showed you that
the floor is a lot higher than what
people are probably giving the team credit for
based on just cherry picking what the offense
is doing.
I'm really not sure that Texas has played
its complete game yet, even in the Ohio
State victory, which I said last week, kind
of scary to think about.
I know that some people are saying the
offense is kind of scary to think about
right now.
It's still early in the season.
I really do wish that the Longhorns looked
sharper on the offensive side of the football,
especially with arch in year two being a
starter.
It hasn't happened yet, and there is a
lot of turnover year to year in college
football.
That being said, you have a couple of
consistent pieces in the quarterback and the head
coach, and I do think it's a fair
argument that you would like to see the
offense be humming a little bit better at
this point.
I think maybe we have an opportunity to
get that complete game this weekend.
What a statement that would be on the
road in Knoxville.
It really is the most interesting thing about
being three, you know, that this team just
doesn't even feel like they've come close to
meeting their true potential.
So as we close the first three games
of this Texas Longhorns season showed you the
versatile ways that this team can win.
They showed you that this team has a
pretty high floor.
I think they also have a pretty high
ceiling, and it might be the first time
that Texas needs to really get closer to
that ceiling than the floor as they go
on the road to Knoxville for their first
SEC game.
And with that being said, we are going
to sign off for today.
Hope all of you have a great rest
of your week ahead.
We will be live on Saturday during the
fourth quarter or so of the Longhorns game.
We'll be doing our live show where we
just do a little play-by-play, color
commentary, rapid reaction.
We take your comments.
We take your questions.
We do a post-game show as well.
The live show really goes right into post
-game.
It's awesome.
Would love for you to join us.
That is on, by the way, all major
social media apps, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X,
just about everything.
So definitely hit us up over there if
you're only finding us on the podcast at
this point.
Hope you'll join us.
Again, have a great rest of your week
ahead.
And as I always say, at every show,
God bless and hook'em!