Texas’ offensive line looks to bounce back from early struggles as Oklahoma looms

AUSTIN — Growing up just five minutes away from Fair Park, Longhorn offensive lineman Trevor Goosby would go to “Fair Day Friday” every year with his mom.

“Fair Days” are built into the yearly schedules of Dallas school districts. Texas State Fair gives free tickets to students and teachers who live within a 100-mile radius of Fair Park. The policy only applies on weekdays, so to prevent students from skipping class on their own, Dallas school districts give students the day off.

When Goosby went to the Texas State Fair as a kid, he would get sugar rushes from the cotton candy he ate. His mom would go to Fletcher’s for a corn dog, which Goosby says he prefers over the turkey leg.

And as a third-generation Longhorn, he knows a lot about the Red River Rivalry.

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“Just seeing all the things I used to see as a kid now, just playing in such a big game, it’s gonna be an intense game,” Goosby said.

Goosby, a Melissa product, has never played in the Red River Rivalry game before. His first two years at Texas, he was in the stands, unsure if he would ever make it onto the field. Then last year, he was on the sidelines, cheering on his teammates.

This year, Goosby is playing a starting role on a newer offensive line. However, it likely won’t be easy.

The Oklahoma defense is one of the strongest in the Southeastern Conference, currently leading the SEC in fewest touchdowns and points allowed, with three and 33, respectively.

“They have some really stout guys. They move a lot, you know, they’re super disruptive, especially, they just want to try and cause chaos a lot of times,” Goosby said. “And the key to that is just making sure our feet and our eyes are good.”

That, paired with the fact that the offensive line struggled last game, could lead to problems for the Texas offense.

Against Florida last week, the offensive line had a hard time holding the pocket and creating gaps for the run game. Starting quarterback Arch Manning was sacked six times over the game with a pressure rate of 59.5%. The run game was also severely limited, with only 52 rushing yards overall.

Part of these problems is just due to the inexperience of the line.

The offensive line has struggled with pre-snap penalties all season long, with six against San Jose State and eight against Florida. For the most part, they are false start penalties, with younger players jumping early in high-pressure situations.

When asked at the media availability on Monday why he didn’t go to the transfer portal for more experienced linemen, head coach Steve Sarkisian said he trusted that they would be ready to go.

“Inevitably, you can play the hypotheticals and what ifs. It’s what’s available, and then what do you have, and I think our guys that we have are more than capable,“ Sarkisian said. ”Like I said, we got to coach better, we got to play better.”

To Goosby, it means a lot for Sarkisian to have faith in Coach Flood and the position group.

“I 100% feel that belief from him because he had the chance to, and obviously he didn’t,” Goosby said. “So he trusts Flood, and Flood trusts us. And so I definitely have a belief too. We just need to clean some little things up, and I think we’ll be a really good group.”

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