Penalty Tracker: Longhorns show slight improvement against Mississippi State

A week after turning in one of the worst penalty performances of the Steve Sarkisian era, the Texas Longhorns responded with a much cleaner performance against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Saturday’s 31-3 victory, though yet another special teams penalty wiped a punt return touchdown off the board.

The Longhorns were flagged five times for 42 yards. Two additional penalties were called and declined or offset by a Mississippi State flag.

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The offense was responsible for three flags and two additional offsetting calls. Left tackle Melvin Siani was responsible for a holding on first down, right tackle Andre Cojoe was called for a false start that moved the Longhorns back on third down, and the unit was flagged for an illegal formation on first down. An illegal shift offset a pass interference call on the Bulldogs while a holding call was declined.

Coming early in the second quarter, Texas was able to overcome the holding penalty on Siani when running back Raleek Brown ran for 11 yards on second down and quarterback Arch Manning scrambled for 10 yards on 3rd and 9. The drive ended with a field goal after Cojoe’s false start on 3rd and 7 led to a more difficult conversion — wide receiver Jermaine Bishop gained eight yards on the ensuing play.

The illegal formation penalty came after the negated punt return touchdown with Texas backed up in its own territory, nearly leading to a safety after the subsequent carry by running back Hollywood Smothers from the 4-yard line was dropped for a three-yard loss.

Three pre-snap penalties are not up to the standard that Texas can play at. Lining up incorrectly before the snap, while at home, is frustrating and tough to excuse. Their performance would look even worse had the other two penalties been accepted.

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A face mask call on Texas linebacker Justin Cryer negated what was an excellent opportunity for the defense. Cryer came unblocked from the right side and grabbed the Mississippi State quarterback’s face mask while trying to bring him down.

Easily the biggest penalty of the evening, a block in the back on a punt return called against former walk-on wide receiver Rett Andersen, took a touchdown by Ryan Niblett off of the scoreboard.