AUSTIN — Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is known as one of the best offensive minds in college football, but even he can admit his shortcomings on that side of the ball.
During Monday’s press conference in Austin following the season-opening loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes, Sarkisian admitted he was “very pleased” with the rushing production in the loss but also reflected on how things could have gone different in that area in the losses last season to Ohio State and Georgia (twice).
“We felt like a year ago, for lack of better terms, we were probably a little too cute against those teams, and we wanted to get back to a physical brand of football that we’ve kind of built around here,” Sarkisian said.
Sarkisian has been criticized since the 2023 campaign for the team’s inconsistency in the red zone, which likely started after the thrilling loss to Oklahoma that season. This reared its ugly head a few months later in the loss to Washington in the College Football Playoff before continuing in 2024 against Georgia in the SEC Championship and Ohio State in the CFP Semifinals.
As Sarkisian has said, hindsight is always 20/20, but this likely won’t lessen the frustration from fans that have continued to lose sleep over the head-scratching outside pitch play for Quintrevion Wisner that he called on 2nd and goal in the Cotton Bowl.
Down 21-14 with the ball at the one-yard line with a little over three minutes to play, Texas was looking to punch in the game-tying touchdown and potentially send the game to overtime. Instead, the pitch play resulted in a seven-yard loss.
Sure, the Ohio State defense would have seen a run up the middle coming from a mile away on the goal line, but it certainly would have given the Longhorns a better chance than having Wisner — who is known more for his ability to pack a punch instead of east-to-west speed — try to outrun Caleb Downs to the goal line.
Two plays later, Quinn Ewers was sacked and fumbled, allowing Ohio State star pass rusher Jack Sawyer to recover the ball and return it for an 83-yard, game-sealing touchdown.
Fast forward to this season, Wisner, CJ Baxter and the Texas running game had a solid day in the opener to Ohio State, but the red-zone issues continued. Instead of getting cute, Sarkisian’s play calling from the one-yard line in Columbus was far too predictable, as Texas turned it over on downs twice inside the 10-yard line, including on a quarterback sneak from Arch Manning in the third quarter.
The Longhorns will have a chance to gain some momentum as the season treads on during Saturday’s home opener against San Jose State.
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