COLUMBUS, Ohio — Standing at the podium at SEC Media Days, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian was already peevish after the first question.
“That was a good start, man. Got a couple jabs right there right off the rip,” Sarkisian said.
The “jabs”?
“Over the last couple of seasons, the red-zone offense has faltered a little bit in late-game situations, in big moments, too.”
Less of a jab than an objective statement of fact, but okay.
The question?
Whether better red-zone offense would push the Horns
into the national championship game after those aforementioned high-profile failures near the goal line resulted in back-to-back losses in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
“Hopefully next year you ask me a different question, saying since you got that resolved, what are you working on this year?” Sarkisian said as he closed his statement, still peevish.
Following a 14-7 loss for Sarkisian’s No. 1-ranked Longhorns to the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday in Columbus, the question remains the same — when are Sarkisian and Texas going to demonstrate more competence in the red zone, the type of competence necessary to win a national championship?
That’s because in a game defined by small margins, Texas once again suffered its greatest deficit of competency in the red zone, scoring zero points on two trips inside the Ohio State 20-yard line.
With redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning behind center instead of the smaller and less mobile Quinn Ewers, Sarkisian turned to the quarterback run game on both trips, but it wasn’t enough to produce game-defining efforts by Manning as Sarkisian’s play calling once again comes under justifiable scrutiny after two of the four failed fourth-down conversion attempts in Saturday’s loss came in the red area.
The first missed opportunity in the red zone came down 7-0 in the third quarter at the end of a 15-play drive that covered 70 yards over 6:54 as the running game started to find its rhythm because it was the 71st yard that went on to define the game.
After the Texas offensive line helped push redshirt sophomore running back CJ Baxter towards the goal line on a two-yard gain on 3rd and 3, Sarkisian called a quarterback sneak at tempo, trying to run Manning behind senior right guard DJ Campbell, a preseason All-SEC selection.
Instead of Campbell clearing the way for Manning, however, Ohio State won at the point of attack, stopping the Texas quarterback well short of the goal line.
If the play looked rushed live, it’s because it was rushed.
After the game, Sarkisian said that he called the sneak to prevent Ohio State from substituting, a regrettable decision upon reflection.
“I think they got under us pretty good and kind of took Arch’s legs out from under him. Hindsight is 20/20 — if I could do it all over a gain, we probably sub and they put their big guys in, we put our big guys in, and see if we can get it in the end zone,” Sarkisian said.
Using a jumbo package on the goal line is a tactic that Sarkisian employed in the Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State that ended the 2024 season for the Longhorns the play before the infamous toss sweep resulted in a seven-yard loss. It went for no gain and Sarkisian quickly went away from it, although Baxter’s return does give the Texas head coach a 230-pound running back to employ in that situation.
Even with Baxter back, the possibility of using heavier personnel to solve the goal-line issues for the Horns would be more encouraging if there was actually some recent evidence of it working.
The second red-zone trip featured more perplexing play calling from Sarkisian. Trailing 14-7 early in the fourth quarter after Carnell Tate’s 40-yard touchdown reception, Texas once again leaned heavily on the running game to sustain a lengthy drive that eventually totaled 76 yards over 13 plays.
After a 14-yard gain by junior tight end Jack Endries on a screen pass moved the Longhorns into the red zone, Sarkisian stuck with that ground0-based ethos, calling a quarterback counter for Manning that gained four yards and a run for junior running back Quintrevion Wisner that gained three yards.
Facing 3rd and 3 in four-down territory, Sarkisian abandoned the running game even though Texas ultimately ran for 166 yards on 4.5 yards per carry, motioning the running back into the flat on third down and dialing up a crossing route for sophomore wide receiver Ryan Wingo. Open on the play, Wingo wasn’t able to come up with the reception when Manning fired the ball low and hard, an essentially uncatchable pass.
Despite positive offseason buzz about the rapport between Manning and Wingo, the sophomore wide receiver only recorded two catches for 35 yards on seven targets, a disappointing performance from a player the Longhorns need to be productive to make the playoffs for a third straight year.
Because Sarkisian opted against running the ball on third down, fourth down became an obvious passing down with three yards to gain.
The play call by Sarkisian had a certain amount of conservatism baked into it — the running back and the tight end both served as blockers with Wisner not even check releasing from the backfield, leaving the three wide receivers as the only potential targets for Manning, all lined up to the field.
And one of those wide receivers wasn’t really a target, either, running a rub route for Wingo that was taken away by the Ohio State safety in the middle of the field, leaving redshirt freshman wide receiver Parker Livingstone releasing from the slot to the corner of the end zone as the only option for Manning. Protected well, but standing flat-footed in the pocket, Manning tried to lead Livingstone into the throw instead of giving his wide receiver a chance to go up and high point it and Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun was in phase to help ensure the pass fell incomplete in the end zone.
Asked about the red zone during Monday’s press conference, Sarkisian pointed to the team’s improvement from a 50-percent touchdown rate in 2023 to a 64-percent touchdown rate in 2024.
“We did make some improvements, we just need to continue to improve,” Sarkisian said.
But if the Longhorns have improved in the red zone since January, it wasn’t apparent on Saturday in Columbus, and Sarkisian deserves a lot of the blame for his questionable play calling.