The Texas 10 personnel package produced two TDs vs. Oklahoma

For all the criticism of Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian as his offense struggles to consistently produce the explosive plays that were supposed to be this group’s hallmark, he has gotten well out of comfort zone by incorporating more 10 personnel groupings on 11 plays this season, as tracked by SEC Stat Cat.

It’s the first time since Sarkisian was the offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2019 that 10 personnel has factored into his play calling — of the approximately 7,100 plays called by the Texas head coach over eight seasons, he’s used 10 personnel in less than 100.

But it’s working. In fact, the production that Sarkisian got out of the 10 personnel package in Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma was extraordinary, as Texas scored two touchdowns on the four plays it ran with four wide receivers on the field.

Junior wide receiver Ryan Wingo was the initial beneficiary on a 34-yard touchdown catch by senior quarterback Arch Manning early in the second quarter. Operating from a bunch formation to the field with two other wide receivers, Wingo worked down the seam behind the linebacker dropping into coverage as the formation forced the field safety to align on the hashmarks as junior wide receiver Cam Coleman’s deep route occupied the attention of the boundary safety.

That’s a middle-field open coverage and it couldn’t have been more open for Wingo as the formation and route concepts produced an easy read and rip from Manning.

At a key moment in the fourth quarter, a 10 personnel grouping helped Texas tie the game by responding to the go-ahead touchdown scored by Oklahoma on the pick six by Peyton Bowen.

One area the offense where the offense has found marginal improvement this season is the red-zone touchdown rate and good high red-zone calls from Sarkisian have helped.

In a 2×2 formation, Texas got a favorable matchup with a linebacker split wide in the boundary over Wingo with Bishop lined up to the outside. As Wingo’s out-breaking route drew the attention of the cornerback and safety, Bishop got the linebacker to bite on his hitch route, then used his elite acceleration to create separation, making the late-arriving safety miss on the 15-yard touchdown reception.

According to Inside Texas, the two touchdowns from 10 personnel benefited from increased reps in practice last week, a point of emphasis that continued in preparation for Saturday’s matchup against Florida in Austin.

With Sarkisian understandably reticent to take any of the three top receivers off the field in order to find playing time for Bishop, 10 personnel utilizes all four and puts opposing linebackers in extremely difficult situations — opposing defensive coordinators may need to get into some dime packages in order to counter the matchups problems Texas is creating in 10 personnel.

Whether or not teams make that adjustment, Sarkisian expects to see some blitzes because there are typically fewer players to use in pass protection.

“Really good defensive coordinators like the ones we play against, if they know that that’s all you’re going to do, I promise you, we’re going to get schemed up,” Sarkisan said. “And so you have to be able to to change gears, switch gears, do different things, or we can stand back there, five- and six-man protection, and guys are going to be running free in Arch’s face.”

Even in the limited snaps the Longhorns have used 10 personnel, Sarkisian has already shown the adjustment that he can make to the threat of pressure, using junior wide receiver Emmett Mosley in the backfield before motioning out if the defense isn’t showing a seventh defender going after the quarterback.

There’s also risk in that type of pressure, too — if you’re sending seven and have to defend four wide receivers, the defense is in Cover Zero on the back end with no help over the top against Coleman or anyone else. That free runner better get there fast.

Texas has als0 been a pass-first team out of 10 personnel, running it just twice at 2.5 yards per carry, so that’s another weakness, albeit one that Mosley could help mitigate by lining up in the backfield and mimicking a 20 personnel grouping by serving as a lead blocker.

Those two weaknesses are major reasons why 10 personnel is a change of pace in college football rather than the base package that Mike Leach used in his Air Raid offense.

“Our 10 personnel is really good to us, and it’s grown as the season’s gone on, and it’s been effective, but you have layers to that — your run game can get limited, your pass protections can get limited. So you have to have other things to offset if people are trying to attack that aspect of your game,” Sarkisian said.