Texas may not be back after all. After getting a few significant wins on the season to start the year out 5-0, the No. 3 Longhorns fell at Red River to the rival Oklahoma Sooners, 34-30. While No. 12 Oklahoma will almost certainly find itself ranked inside of the top 10 by this time tomorrow, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian will have some explaining to do after getting upset in Dallas.
Although this is a massive rivalry game, Oklahoma played with a little more toughness and executed slightly better than Texas to prove victorious. Some of Texas' defeat will fall on star quarterback Quinn Ewers' inherent recklessness, but much more of it will fall on Sarkisian's conservative play-calling in the final minutes. Simply, he left Dillon Gabriel and the Oklahoma offense too much time on the clock.
While Texas still has its whole season ahead of it, we have to wonder how much the narrative will change on the Longhorns the rest of the way. Better yet, has it simply defaulted to being much of the same. Texas is still not back. Not until they make the College Football Playoff as Big 12 champions will they be back. Next year is next year once they switch leagues and it is a 12-team field, but it is Texas.
Here is Sarkisian's synopsis of what happened and what went wrong for the Longhorns over in Dallas.
Red zone execution was an area that largely costed the Longhorns an opportunity to stay perfect.
He did seem to like the design and play-calling related to Texas going for it on many fourth downs.
Sarkisian may not have come away with a victory, but he did feel that his players were ready to play.
He believes that momentum swung in Oklahoma's favor on the final drive due to Gabriel's big plays.
Not to point fingers, but being down their starting center certainly complicated things for Texas here.
As far as Texas playing Oklahoma again, Sarkisian sees himself as a Maury Ballstein gymnast.
There is a lot to unpack here, but you can tell that this is not the same Texas program from yesteryear.
Oklahoma upsets Texas: Everything Steve Sarkisian said after the loss
Look. Someone had to win and someone had to lose. I still feel like Texas was the more talented team on the field today, but the Sooners out-executed the Longhorns big time, enough to the point where an upset was not only possible, but probable. Keep in mind that this loss was not to some middling Big 12. Oklahoma is now the presumptive favorite to come out of its league now that it beat Texas.
Yes, Sarkisian will take the blame for this loss, but Ewers has to play better in big spots like this. No, his offensive line did not help him, but he was far too careless with the football. While some draft pundits project him as a first-round pick, he may need to stay in school for another season. Oklahoma has a fine pass rush under Brent Venables' guidance, but Ewers might be eaten alive by NFL teams.
Overall, I expect Texas to continue to play high-quality football the rest of the way. This is a potential College Football Playoff team now, but most definitely a New Year's Six-caliber team. If the playoff were of the 12-team variety, no doubt Texas would be a part of it. But next year is next year, and this is now. For now, Texas might still be a great team, but it is one that is still rather vulnerable.
Even in defeat, it is crystal clear that Sarkisian is the right man to lead the Longhorns going forward.
