DALLAS — At the start of the second quarter, the Texas Longhorns defense was firmly in control in the Red River Rivalry after forcing five straight three and outs by the Oklahoma Sooners to start the game. Thanks to a 41-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Arch Manning to junior wide receiver Cam Coleman on a one-play drive, the Horns led 7-0.
But after getting pinned deep in their own territory, the Longhorns needed to punt from their own 8-yard line less than a minute into the second quarter.
Texas had seen the punt block look presented by Doug Deakins’ unit, according to Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian.
“Felt like we had a good protection,” said the Texas head coach.
It didn’t hold, as Oklahoma defensive end Danny Okoye came free up the middle, taking the ball off the foot of Texas senior punter Mac Chiumento. Cornerback Dakoda Fields recovered in the end zone to tie the game at 7-7.
“I couldn’t see exactly. It was tough to tell all the way backed up. Obviously, they had a free guy coming,” Sarkisian said.
What happened was a breakdown in fundamentals by senior linebacker Justin Cryer, who serves in the shield for Texas, a role he also held at Florida State, where he played nearly 300 snaps on special teams, including 55 on punt coverage.
Trusted by the coaching staff enough to handle coach-to-play communication as the middle linebacker on defense, Cryer committed the worst mistake a player can in that situation — allowing a player to come up the middle.
“They loaded a side and we have to try to pick one of them,” Cyer said. “One of them end up getting through. We’ll look at it, and we’ll fix what needs to be fixed.”
Cryer also didn’t get much help from senior defensive end Colton Vasek, who anchors the center of the shield. The Austin Westlake product entered the game with 320 career snaps on special teams, including 38 on punt coverage.
Did Cryer think he had more help from Okoye?
“Yeah, probably,” he said. “It is what it is. It shouldn’t have happened. Probably could have started over there. Obviously, I probably wish I’d moved myself over. As an older player, I gotta know that they loaded the entire side — as someone who’s been playing the game a lot, I couldn’t sell myself over.”
In a three-point loss, it was a game-changing mistake, and it’s increased the pressure on special teams coordinator Jeff Banks after the Horns gave up a punt return touchdown to the Volunteers before the bye week.
After Saturday’s loss, Sarkisian said that he hasn’t considered re-evaluating Banks’ responsibilities as the special teams coordinator.
