There is no excuse for what has happened in the past two weeks to No. 6 Texas and no escaping the damage being done in real time to Steve Sarkisian’s job security and Arch Manning’s legacy.
After falling to unranked Oklahoma last week, the Longhorns lost 27-24 at home to Florida and have their backs against the wall in the SEC and for the College Football Playoff.
With these two losses in hand, Texas is essentially eliminated from the conference championship game. At this point, the Longhorns are only in the mix as an at-large contender because of one quarter of play – the fourth quarter in last month’s win against No. 5 Ohio State.
Take that out of the equation and you have another disappointing, poorly coached, underperforming Texas team that bears
a striking resemblance to pretty much every team that’s come out of Austin for the past generation.
But this one is worse.
The expectations for Sarkisian should be this: Win every game the rest of the way in the regular season and win at least one game in the playoff.
His performance in six seasons has fallen short of every measurement for success despite his operating with one of the largest budgets in the Power Four. Sarkisian has had every advantage and delivered almost nothing of consequence.
If the Longhorns don’t make the playoff, there should be a coaching change. Clearly, Sarkisian does not have a handle of what’s happening with his team; he definitely doesn’t have a handle on the offense, which is a total mess.
Florida started backup quarterback Tramell Jones Jr., who played well enough to reveal Manning as at best the third-best quarterback between the two teams — behind Jones and the Gators’ Aaron Philo, who missed the game due to injury.
Jones went 22 of 35 for 155 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover that ended a two-game losing streak that had stopped a promising start for first-year Florida coach Jon Sumarall.
"We played about as awful as we could in the first quarter, and we kept fighting," Sumrall. "And we didn’t do that the last few weeks to be honest with you. When things got tough, we flinched the last couple weeks. Our team grew today without the win because we fought."
Manning finished 14 of 20 for 173 yards and a score but had under 100 yards passing until deep into the fourth quarter.
And down by a field goal and near midfield with under two minutes to play, Manning was sacked and stripped, with Florida recovering the loose ball and putting the game away. Once again, we're all left wanting more.
We’ve seen enough now to realize that Manning is not that guy and likely never will be. Despite being handed more skill talent this offseason via the transfer portal, Manning has shown no growth and no progression; his college career has been swallowed up by his inability to outplay the hype and attention that has trailed his last name.
That makes Manning the poster child for all that Texas has been under Sarkisian: An empty-calories program that has an outer layer of sheen but nothing of substance underneath.
Ranked No. 1 in the US LBM Coaches Poll just eight days ago, the Longhorns had the résumé but never really looked the part of the nation’s best team.
And things should look worse in about a few weeks, after Texas takes on the hard part of this year’s conference schedule. Still to come are No. 10 Mississippi, No. 19 Mississippi State, No. 13 Missouri and No. 21 LSU. Unless there’s a hidden gear somewhere out there, the Longhorns are basically cooked. Sarkisian might not survive this, and Manning’s reputation will never live this down.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas damages CFP hopes with Florida loss that puts heat on Steve Sarkisian | Opinion
