No. 1 Texas 51, ULM 3: Five observations and Sunday chat

Business was conducted in Austin on Saturday evening.

I'll spare you the long recap of this game. The No. 1 Texas Longhorns did exactly what was expected of them in this matchup: They took control early and didn't give an inch to the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in a 51-3 victory at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

It wasn't the cleanest game, but as I said last week, it gives the Texas coaching staff something to prepare for when conference play begins. With the preseason games behind them, it's time to head to Atlanta.

Let us now turn to the observations from the dismantling of the ULM on Saturday.

Arch Manning's first start: ups and downs

One thing you can say about Arch is that he's not afraid to let the ball go and fly down the field. For better or for worse, he's going to drive the ball down the field and we definitely saw both sides of that coin on Saturday night.

While Arch relentlessly attacked the entire field and made some great plays, he also had a tendency to hold onto the ball a little longer than he should have and put it in danger on multiple occasions, resulting in two interceptions. Manning made his first catch on the game's opening drive when he threw it into triple coverage. The other came later as a result of a pass that was too violent and bounced out of the hands of Jaydon Blue and into the hands of a ULM safety. Some may argue Blue should have caught it, but Arch was definitely trying to thread the needle a little here.

You could tell Steve Sarkisian was frustrated with his quarterback's inconsistent play at halftime, so you know he'll be working him hard next week. Manning has certainly shown the potential that everyone is excited about, but he also showed his youth and inexperience during some stretches of play on Saturday.

Manning finished the night in his first start as a Longhorn with 15 of 29 passes for 258 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Jaydon Blue looked good and healthy

No. 23 is back and had a full workload on Saturday night to prepare for conference play. Expectations for Blue increased even further after Cedric Baxter was injured during training camp, and on Saturday he looked like a true RB1 against the Warhawks.

Blue was injured against Michigan and sat out last week as a precaution. He received the ball 25 times on the ground for 124 yards and three touchdowns, while also being targeted several times through the air and scoring another point in the red zone.

Blue looks primed and ready for conference play, and has a chance to put on a monster game next week against Mississippi State, whose defense has looked abysmal so far.

The defense was once again overwhelming

Speaking of setting the tone from the start, Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. appeared to secure a pick six early in the game, and he followed it up later by forcing a sack on General Booty. Hill may have had some of the most spectacular plays of the night, but the entire Texas defense once again came out strong against ULM and made a name for itself.

Texas’ defense also scored points on Saturday.

Don't look now, but linebacker Liona Lefau looks like a stud. Every time 18 comes into the game, you see him near the football. I liked him as a new addition, and he looks like he'll play a lot of snaps this year before taking over full-time next year. The idea of ​​potentially having Hill and Lefau on the field at the same time next year should make your pants tight. Metaphorically, of course.

Texas' defense has allowed just two touchdowns in four games. Before SEC play, they had allowed just 22 points. They play hard from the opening kickoff to the triple-zero game. You can tell they're playing at a high level every week, and that's exactly how it should be.

Texas will enter SEC play with a pretty clean bill of health

We've already talked about Blue looking healthy, but in this section I want to talk about the team's overall health after four games. Texas has been unlucky with injuries to Baxter and Christian Clark during training camp, but so far through the first four weeks they've been pretty lucky on the injury front.

The outlook for starting quarterback Quinn Ewers seems promising, as Sarkisian said he made significant progress throughout the week. He is expected to be ready to go when Texas heads to Dallas to face Oklahoma, but barring any setbacks, there's a chance we'll see him next week against Mississippi State. While Ewers wasn't on the field on Saturday, I loved how he was focused throughout the game and stood in the middle of the huddle to fire up the team for the fourth quarter.

Ewers has definitely settled into his leadership role, so that's been pretty cool to see. In the early years he always seemed pretty quiet and reserved, but now you see him more lively and open.

Speaking of injuries, wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. was sent to the locker room during the first half. Sarkisian said he left the game with a bruised hip and hopes to return soon. We also didn't see running back Quintrevion Wisner on Saturday after he played little against UTSA. Hopefully it was a situation that should make his job easier for Wisner, as Blue will be back on the field on Saturday.

The SEC conference is tough, so you want to go into it as healthy as possible. The Longhorns seem to be well positioned for next week in that regard.

Texas once again performed well on money downs and in the red zone

The key is converting on money downs and in the red zone, and once again the Longhorns offense was fantastic in both categories.

Texas was 8 of 15 on money downs (7 of 13 on third and 1 of 2 on fourth) and was a perfect 7 of 7 in the red zone. That's the kind of result you'll get week in and week out if you're Sarkisian and the offensive brain trust.

The Texas offense had its fair share of frustrations in the red zone in 2023, but they've flipped the script in that regard in 2024. We'll see if those results translate to conference play, but so far they've been fantastic at finishing drives and scoring points once they get to the red zone.

With non-conference play officially behind us, it's time to put the schedule into action and start playing big-boy football against SEC opponents.

Texas seems ready for the big moment and will go into next week as the number one team when it hosts the Bulldogs in Austin for its SEC opener.

You know how this goes. The 24-hour rule is now in effect. Celebrate accordingly because it's time to play SEC football, folks.