The 2025 Texas Longhorns had a penalty problem last season. There’s no way to sugarcoat it, bend the truth, or explain the frequent and costly mistakes that the Longhorns seemed to make over and over again.
A year after finishing 134th out of 136 teams in total penalties and 132nd in penalty yards per game, head coach Steve Sarkisian has made it a point this offseason to not only commit fewer penalties, but help players understand how and why they’re being flagged.
“It’s one thing just to say we don’t want penalties anymore,” Sarkisian said. “But I have to educate our team on how and why we’re getting the penalties we got.”
The Longhorns averaged 8.3 penalties per game in 2025, totaling 108 flags for 906 yards over 13 games. For reference, Army, the least-penalized team in the nation, averaged just 2.4 penalties per game, while the median team in the country averaged 6.0.
Last season’s Texas was not simply a little worse than average — they were in a completely different tier when it came to giving away free yardage.
But, the stats don’t tell the full story.
Perhaps the most frustrating two aspects of the penalties were the frequency and timing. A huge third down that gifted the opposing offense a drive extension. A false start that put the Texas offense behind the chains. A big play wiped away by a holding call.
The first two games offer a clear image of what would ultimately plague the Horns throughout the duration of the season.
On the road against Ohio State, Texas flagged six times for 50 yards. On the surface, that’s not horrible, but a quick review of those six penalties highlights that two of the six occurred on Ohio State’s first touchdown drive as an otherwise stalled possession ended in seven points as a result of the lack of discipline.
With the score knotted at zero heading into the second quarter, the Ohio State offense faced a third and four at the Texas 44-yard line. Longhorns nickel back Graceson Littleton broke up the pass, consequently putting the Buckeyes in a tough punt or go for it fourth-down decision.
Instead, Texas edge Colin Simmons was called for a 15-yard face mask on the play, negating Littleton’s exception play, extending the drive, and putting Ohio State well within field-goal range.
Just two plays later, Longhorns defensive back Malik Muhammad was flagged for a 10-yard holding penalty on an incomplete pass on 2nd and 9, moving the Buckeyes from the 44-yard line to the red zone.
Ohio State ended up punching it in for a touchdown.
Late in the third quarter, the Texas offense put themselves in a bind with a penalty to start a drive down 7-0. A 10-yard holding call on the first play of the drive immediately put the Longhorns behind the sticks. Two plays later, Texas quarterback Arch Manning threw an interception.
The Buckeyes scored the second of their two touchdowns on the ensuing drive.
Those three penalties played a key role in determining the outcome of the game. The Longhorns did not just commit penalties, but did so at consequential moments.
“We’ve got to minimize those penalties,” Sarkisian said at SEC Media Days. “We’ve got to fight the urge of playing behind the chains. I say fight the urge because I think there’s an urge to some of the penalties that we get.”
The following week, the Longhorns beat an overmatched San Jose State team by a score of 38-7, but were flagged 12 times for 115 yards.
The result was never in jeopardy, but the penalties persisted nonetheless — although Texas could survive the penalty problem against bad teams, it doesn’t mean the problem wasn’t real.
So, who was to blame for the penalties? Quite often, the offense was responsible for being flagged and accruing high amounts of yardage. Routinely disrupting drives, the offensive line was particularly painful.
Holdings (27) and false starts (25) accounted for 48.1 percent of all Longhorn penalties. Granted, some of these were committed by non-linemen, but the five big fellas up front were credited with 43 penalties on the season, 39.8 percent of the entire team’s penalties.
Texas right tackle Brandon Baker was flagged 12 times over the season. Perhaps his transgressions drew a closer eye from the officials or perhaps it was simply bad placement, but guard DJ Campbell, just one spot to Baker’s left, committed 10.
Two players, lining up side-by-side, were responsible for over 10 percent of all penalties on the Longhorns.
“Some of those penalties, whether it be holding or [false starts], were, I wouldn’t even say pregame jitters, just more so anticipating the snap count,” Baker said.
The junior hopes that a move from tackle to guard will help him avoid false starts.
“Now moving inside, I’m able to periph the ball a lot easier. So that’s been a huge emphasis this offseason, being able to get off the ball when the ball is snapped.”
Defensively, the Longhorns were prone to jumping offsides (nine). The third-most frequently called penalty, the Texas front seven gave away free plays throughout the season.
The repetition of similar penalty calls by the same players is another focal point for Sarkisian heading into the season.
“It’s on the coaches coaching the proper technique and the fundamentals to reduce those penalties, and on the players being coachable, and not making the same mistakes over and over again.”
In Texas’ ugliest loss of the season against a bad Florida team, the offense was penalized eight times — five false starts and three holding calls. Fill-in offensive linemen Nick Brooks was subbed into the game and immediately moved the Longhorn offense in the wrong direction.
It’s hard to score more than 21 points when constantly being forced into long down and distances as a result of penalties. Play-calling options are narrowed, crowds get louder, and defenses are able to dial up advantageous and exotic looks.
Perhaps no penalty was bigger than an offsides call on Simmons in a loss to Georgia.
Having just scored a touchdown to cut the Georgia lead to 14-10, the Texas defense was facing 4th and 5 from their own 49-yard line. Undoubtedly hoping to influence the play with his pass rush, Simmons got a head start and was called for a false start that gave the Bulldogs a free first down.
Georgia ultimately scored a touchdown on the drive and pulled away for a monumental victory.
It’s not fair to pin a large portion of the loss on that penalty, there were ample moments to turn the tide, but that penalty proved to be costly at the biggest moment in the game.
The fact that it came from arguably Texas’ best defensive player only makes matters worse, compounded by the frequency of those mistakes as Simmons was flagged nine times on the season.
Attempting the fix the problem, the staff turned to collective punishment during the offseason.
“I think it’s group punishment, too, and I hate saying it like that, but that’s the reality of the situation. Everybody’s got to feel the effect of a penalty because that’s what happens in a game. One guy doesn’t get flagged, and he’s the only foul. It’s all of us. We all feel that, and so I think that in innately has helped,” Sarkisian said.
Texas doesn’t need to become the nation’s least-penalized team. But if Sarkisian’s offseason emphasis works, the Longhorns need to become a team that understands the difference between a five yard false start in September and a costly mistake on fourth down in a crucial game.
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