AUSTIN — In the second quarter on Saturday, the Texas Longhorns had taken a 17-3 lead over the Florida Gators on Ryan Niblett’s 63-yard punt return touchdown. What happened over the last several minutes prior to halftime helped set the stage for Florida’s comeback.
After forcing the Gators to punt on the ensuing possession, Texas had a chance to extend its drive or pin Florida deep. Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian opted to go for it on 4th and 1, going back to a 31 personnel look (three running
backs, one tight end), but handing it off to senior running back Hollywood Smothers instead of replicating the plus-one advantage that helped senior quarterback Arch Manning run for eight yards on 3rd and 1 earlier in the drive.
Smothers was blown up in the backfield — the play never had a chance.
“Not very good design. Not very good execution,“ Sarkisian said after the game.
With 2:44 remaining, the Texas defense needed to play complementary football and get into halftime without allowing Florida to get into its lead and 96-percent win probability, according to ESPN.
And it looked like the Horns were set to accomplish that goal after a 3rd and 6 turned into a 3rd and 11 thanks to a false-start penalty on the Gators and Texas senior safety Jelani McDonald dropped speedy Florida wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr. for a one-yard gain on third down.
Instead of attempting a long field goal or trying a hard count and capitulating with the type of punt that leads to losses, Florida head coach Jon Sumrall went for it despite the low odds of converting the 4th and 12.
But that’s exactly what happened when quarterback Tramell Jones, making his first collegiate start, delivering an absolute dime to talented wide receiver Dallas Wilson, who hauled in the 17-yard reception near the sideline despite tight coverage from senior cornerback Bo Mascoe.
As Sarkisian reflected on the play, he pointed out several breakdowns in fundamentals.
“We don’t have proper pass rush lanes. We give him an opportunity to roll to his right, and then we don’t cover properly a bunch set, and we give up the 4th and 12,” Sarkisian said Monday.
Mascoe, who got his fingertips on the pass, had a breakdown in technique in addition to not covering the bunch set properly — he tried to break up the pass with his outside arm instead of his inside arm, allowing the completion in the process.
To make it worse, Mascoe got up celebrating, believing that he’d played the throw effectively.
He had not.
A missed tackle by senior linebacker Rasheem Biles on a 14-yard run by Jones up the middle got the Gators down to the goal line, and Jones finished the drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass to tight end Lacota Dippre when senior linebacker Justin Cryer got beat in man coverage.
The touchdown drive only increased the win probability for Florida by a little more than four percent, but the momentum swing in the game was bigger than that, setting up a second half during which the Gators bled out the Longhorns defense and left the Forty Acres with the upset.
