Here’s the thing about college football — the team that plays better and more consistently doesn’t always win. Victory doesn’t always fall to the more deserving side.
On Saturday in Gainesville, the Florida
Gators outplayed the Texas Longhorns in multiple facets of the game in the 29-21 victory, but head coach Steve Sarkisian’s team still had opportunities to make game-changing plays that would have changed the outcome.
“You have to seize moments in games. You have to seize opportunities. And I thought we had opportunities to seize some moments and we didn’t capitalize,” Sarkisian said on Monday.
Here are the three biggest missed opportunities by the Longhorns.
Graceson Littleton’s forced fumble
Texas had a chance to change the game on the first play from scrimmage, a quick pass from Florida quarterback DJ Lagway to freshman wide receiver Dallas Wilson in his debut for the Gators. As Wilson made the reception, Texas freshman nickel back Graceson Littleton close quickly and delivered a hit that forced a fumble.
But fumble luck varies from play to play and season to season because the bounces of a prolate spheroid on the ground are unpredictable. Two things played in Wilson’s favor on his eventual recovery — the pursuit of Longhorns redshirt senior safety Michael Taaffe forced him to take an angle around Wilson instead of directly to the football, and the ball hit tip down and bounced directly back to the Gators wide receiver, allowing him to easily regain control.
“On the first play, we have an opportunity to seize all the momentum in the game. It was a great hit by Graceson Middleton. The ball’s on the ground and I’m not saying that would have changed the whole outcome of the game, but, man, we recover a fumble right there on the, whatever it is, 30 or so yard line going in, maybe it’s a different game,” Sarkisian said.
Instead, Florida went on a grinding 13-play, 84-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock, taking a 7-0 lead and never looking back.
Missed shot play to Emmett Mosley
Trailing Florida 17-7 late in the quarter, Texas needed to make something happen offensively, but after redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning missed sophomore wide receiver Ryan Wingo under pressure on first down and redshirt sophomore wide receiver Ryan Niblett ran for one yard on second down, the Longhorns faced a third and long, a consistent theme this season.
Nonetheless, Sarkisian remained aggressive trying to attack Florida with the vertical passing game, dialing up an out and up for sophomore wide receiver Emmett Mosley in his Texas debut. Mosley got Gators cornerback Cormani McClain to bite on the double move and was wide open down the field, but Manning overthrew the pass as he took a big hit.
At issue? Texas junior running back Quintrevion Wisner wasn’t effective in pass protection picking up a blitz, forcing Manning to step up in the pocket and take the hit as he released the football. Arriving a little bit late and at a poor angle, Wisner could have been flagged for a holding penalty on the play and still gave up the pressure.
“Shot play to Emmett Mosley, we just miss, protections are a little leaky,” Sarkisian said.
Not only did the Longhorns fail to cut the deficit to three points with the would-be 76-yard touchdown pass, the next play was even more catastrophic — Texas allowed a blocked punt that Sarkisian noted could have easily turned into a touchdown for Florida, bouncing out of the end zone for a safety instead.
So the back-to-back plays represented a nine-point swing in an eight-point loss.
Missed trick play to Jack Endries
The score remained 19-7 early in the third quarter when Manning connected with Mosley for a 22-yard completion to open the second Texas drive after halftime. In the shot zone, Sarkisian opted against a vertical passing play by Manning, instead calling a throwback pass for Wingo targeting junior tight end Jack Endries.
As Mosley was on the shot play in the second quarter, Endries was open, but Wingo overthrew the pass, as Manning did, albeit under much less pressure — Texas blocked the trick play well.
“That was on me — I gotta give him a better ball and it would be a walk-in touchdown,” Wingo said on Monday.
Because Texas would have been in field-goal range had Taaffe been able to come up with the fumble recovery on the first play, the three big missed opportunities by the Longhorns were worth at least 19 points in the eight-point loss.
So while Sarkisian’s team has a lot to clean up at the running back position, along the offensive line, and defensively, there were chances to come away with an undeserved win in The Swamp.
Moving forward in SEC pay, the Horns need to be more opportunistic in addition to correcting the numerous mistakes in technique and fundamental that made the loss to the Gators so frustrating.
