OTF Premium Historic road winning streak at stake when Steve Sarkisian, Texas take on Ohio State

[Jeff Howe]

AUSTIN, Texas — There was a time when Steve Sarkisian couldn’t take Texas on the road and buy a win.

After traveling to Boone Pickens Stadium and dropping a 41-34 decision to No. 11 Oklahoma State on Oct. 22, 2022, Sarkisian’s road record as coach of the Longhorns stood at an abysmal 1-6. While Bijan Robinson churning out 216 yards on a career-high 35 carries in a win over TCU in Fort Worth accounted for Sarkisian’s only victory through his first six true road games on the job, things haven’t been the same since the loss in Stillwater.

That’s the last time Texas lost a true road game, establishing the longest active road winning streak in the country after last season’s 17-7 win over No. 20 Texas A&M at Kyle Field. Winners in each of their last 11 true road games, the No. 1 Longhorns try to make it 12 consecutive victories next Saturday when they open the 2025 season against No. 3 Ohio State.

Traveling to the Horseshoe to face the reigning national champion for the second time in less than eight months might make for the toughest road trip of Sarkisian’s tenure. That’s saying a lot, considering the Aggies became the fifth Associated Press Top 25 opponent to fall victim to Texas during the streak.

The streak started with a turning point in Sarkisian’s time leading the program — a 34-27 win over No. 13 Kansas State on Nov. 5, 2022.

With the Wildcats on the verge of forcing overtime, and the Longhorns on the verge of blowing a 21-point halftime lead, Keondre Coburn stripped a scrambling Adrian Martinez. Jaylan Ford secured the loose ball and the victory for Texas, its first under Sarkisian away from Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium over an AP Top 25 opponent.

Since then, the Longhorns have snapped Alabama’s 21-game winning streak at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2023 and Michigan’s 23-game winning streak at the Big House last season. A 27-24 win over No. 25 Vanderbilt was one of three ranked opponents Texas defeated on the road en route to a 13-win season and a second consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff in 2024.

The key to changing the program’s fortunes when traveling into enemy territory, Sarkisian said after the team’s second camp scrimmage last Saturday, was sticking to the routine he established in 2021.

“I don't know that there's some secret sauce. We're a routine operation," Sarkisian said. "As much as some of us wanted us to change our routine on the road, we stuck with it way back in the day when we weren't a great road team. Over time, guys found the routine of what we did and why we did what we did.

“We started to change the narrative of who we were as a road team.”

The current road winning streak is tied for the program’s fourth-longest in the AP Poll era (since 1936). No Texas had ever racked up double-digit consecutive road wins until Darrell Royal’s Longhorns won 10 in a row, beginning with a 27-12 victory over Baylor on Nov. 10, 1962, and ending with a 27-24 loss to No. 3 Arkansas on Oct. 16, 1965.

Sarkisian’s current streak is tied with a stretch of road success Texas enjoyed under Mack Brown over three seasons (2000-02). After a 28-14 win over Colorado in Boulder on Oct. 14, 2000, the Longhorns didn’t drop another road game until a 42-38 loss to Texas Tech on Nov. 16, 2002, which kept Texas out of the Big 12 title game.

Sarkisian has the Longhorns positioned similarly to where Brown had them in the early 2000s. Back then, Texas was stacking elite recruiting classes on top of each other and had been close to playing for a national championship, with a loss to Colorado in the 2001 Big 12 Championship Game costing the Longhorns an opportunity to face Miami in the Rose Bowl.

Whether Texas continues the winning streak inside the Horseshoe in nine days or not, double-digit winning streaks in true road games have only happened when the Longhorns have been legitimate championship contenders.

— Royal’s Wishbone-era squad won 12 true road games in a row as part of the program’s record-setting 30-game winning streak (1968-70).

The ‘68 Longhorns bounced back with a vengeance from a 1-1-1 start, working out the kinks in the Wishbone while getting through Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and No. 9 Arkansas before a 38-14 road win over Rice on Oct. 26. Texas, which won two national championships before its school-record winning streak was snapped with a 24-11 loss to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 1970 season, saw the road winning streak end at the hands of No. 16 Arkansas in Little Rock, 31-7, on Oct. 16, 1971.

— Fred Akers came painfully close to winning a couple of national championships in his time as the Longhorns’ head man (1977-86). At the height of his tenure, Akers led Texas to 13 consecutive true road wins, which were spread out over four seasons (1981-84).

A week after the Longhorns took a No. 1 ranking into Fayetteville and ran into a Razorback buzz, dropping a 42-11 decision, they went into Irving’s Texas Stadium and handed No. 10 SMU its only loss of the 1981 season, recording a 9-7 win. The Mustangs were one of four ranked opponents to drop a home game to Texas during the streak, with two of the ranked wins coming in 1983 (No. 5 Auburn and No. 9 SMU) and another in 1984 (No. 12 TCU).

The 44-23 win over the Horned Frogs on Nov. 17, 1984, was the last win during the streak, with a loss to Baylor in Waco ending it a week later (24-10 on Nov. 24).

— After Brown’s ‘02 squad lost to Texas Tech, the Longhorns rattled off 15 true road victories in a row over the next four seasons (2003-06), three of which came over ranked opponents.

Texas knocked off Arkansas in Fayetteville (2004) and won twice in College Station (2003 and 2005) and Lubbock (2004 and 2006) during the streak. Sandwiched between a 55-16 thrashing of No. 21 Oklahoma State (Nov. 8, 2003 in Stillwater) and a 22-20 triumph over No. 17 Nebraska in the snow (Oct. 21, 2006 in Lincoln) was a 25-22 win in the Horseshoe over No. 4 Ohio State on Sept. 10, 2005, which established the Longhorns as a legitimate national championship contender early in a season that ended with Texas snapping the school's 35-year title drought.

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[Jeff Howe]

If this Texas team ties the road winning streak of the Mack Brown era Longhorns, it'll happen against Mississippi State on Oct. 25. If the Longhorns get to 15, they'd go to Athens with a chance to make it 16 against Georgia on Nov. 15.

[Jeff Howe]

Regardless, as I wrote, whether the streak gets extended or not next Saturday, this is another data point to show that Sark has Texas positioned where few coaches have had the program since Coach Royal was hired.

[Jarveaux]

Quinn Ewers was 11-1 in away games. 

[hookemrj13]

TL:DR

How's Goosby? lol

[Texas fan in Georgia]

If Texas and Georgia handle buisness, it’ll be Georgias home win streak vs Texas road win streak. Adds to the intrigue IMO

[Texus]

3 hours ago, Texas fan in Georgia said:

If Texas and Georgia handle buisness, it’ll be Georgias home win streak vs Texas road win streak. Adds to the intrigue IMO

Would be epic 

[horns96]

7 hours ago, Jeff Howe said:

AUSTIN, Texas — There was a time when Steve Sarkisian couldn’t take Texas on the road and buy a win.

After traveling to Boone Pickens Stadium and dropping a 41-34 decision to No. 11 Oklahoma State on Oct. 22, 2022, Sarkisian’s road record as coach of the Longhorns stood at an abysmal 1-6. While Bijan Robinson churning out 216 yards on a career-high 35 carries in a win over TCU in Fort Worth accounted for Sarkisian’s only victory through his first six true road games on the job, things haven’t been the same since the loss in Stillwater.

That’s the last time Texas lost a true road game, establishing the longest active road winning streak in the country after last season’s 17-7 win over No. 20 Texas A&M at Kyle Field. Winners in each of their last 11 true road games, the No. 1 Longhorns try to make it 12 consecutive victories next Saturday when they open the 2025 season against No. 3 Ohio State.

Traveling to the Horseshoe to face the reigning national champion for the second time in less than eight months might make for the toughest road trip of Sarkisian’s tenure. That’s saying a lot, considering the Aggies became the fifth Associated Press Top 25 opponent to fall victim to Texas during the streak.

The streak started with a turning point in Sarkisian’s time leading the program — a 34-27 win over No. 13 Kansas State on Nov. 5, 2022.

With the Wildcats on the verge of forcing overtime, and the Longhorns on the verge of blowing a 21-point halftime lead, Keondre Coburn stripped a scrambling Adrian Martinez. Jaylan Ford secured the loose ball and the victory for Texas, its first under Sarkisian away from Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium over an AP Top 25 opponent.

Since then, the Longhorns have snapped Alabama’s 21-game winning streak at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2023 and Michigan’s 23-game winning streak at the Big House last season. A 27-24 win over No. 25 Vanderbilt was one of three ranked opponents Texas defeated on the road en route to a 13-win season and a second consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff in 2024.

The key to changing the program’s fortunes when traveling into enemy territory, Sarkisian said after the team’s second camp scrimmage last Saturday, was sticking to the routine he established in 2021.

“I don't know that there's some secret sauce. We're a routine operation," Sarkisian said. "As much as some of us wanted us to change our routine on the road, we stuck with it way back in the day when we weren't a great road team. Over time, guys found the routine of what we did and why we did what we did.

“We started to change the narrative of who we were as a road team.”

The current road winning streak is tied for the program’s fourth-longest in the AP Poll era (since 1936). No Texas had ever racked up double-digit consecutive road wins until Darrell Royal’s Longhorns won 10 in a row, beginning with a 27-12 victory over Baylor on Nov. 10, 1962, and ending with a 27-24 loss to No. 3 Arkansas on Oct. 16, 1965.

Sarkisian’s current streak is tied with a stretch of road success Texas enjoyed under Mack Brown over three seasons (2000-02). After a 28-14 win over Colorado in Boulder on Oct. 14, 2000, the Longhorns didn’t drop another road game until a 42-38 loss to Texas Tech on Nov. 16, 2002, which kept Texas out of the Big 12 title game.

Sarkisian has the Longhorns positioned similarly to where Brown had them in the early 2000s. Back then, Texas was stacking elite recruiting classes on top of each other and had been close to playing for a national championship, with a loss to Colorado in the 2001 Big 12 Championship Game costing the Longhorns an opportunity to face Miami in the Rose Bowl.

Whether Texas continues the winning streak inside the Horseshoe in nine days or not, double-digit winning streaks in true road games have only happened when the Longhorns have been legitimate championship contenders.

— Royal’s Wishbone-era squad won 12 true road games in a row as part of the program’s record-setting 30-game winning streak (1968-70).

The ‘68 Longhorns bounced back with a vengeance from a 1-1-1 start, working out the kinks in the Wishbone while getting through Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and No. 9 Arkansas before a 38-14 road win over Rice on Oct. 26. Texas, which won two national championships before its school-record winning streak was snapped with a 24-11 loss to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 1970 season, saw the road winning streak end at the hands of No. 16 Arkansas in Little Rock, 31-7, on Oct. 16, 1971.

— Fred Akers came painfully close to winning a couple of national championships in his time as the Longhorns’ head man (1977-86). At the height of his tenure, Akers led Texas to 13 consecutive true road wins, which were spread out over four seasons (1981-84).

A week after the Longhorns took a No. 1 ranking into Fayetteville and ran into a Razorback buzz, dropping a 42-11 decision, they went into Irving’s Texas Stadium and handed No. 10 SMU its only loss of the 1981 season, recording a 9-7 win. The Mustangs were one of four ranked opponents to drop a home game to Texas during the streak, with two of the ranked wins coming in 1983 (No. 5 Auburn and No. 9 SMU) and another in 1984 (No. 12 TCU).

The 44-23 win over the Horned Frogs on Nov. 17, 1984, was the last win during the streak, with a loss to Baylor in Waco ending it a week later (24-10 on Nov. 24).

— After Brown’s ‘02 squad lost to Texas Tech, the Longhorns rattled off 15 true road victories in a row over the next four seasons (2003-06), three of which came over ranked opponents.

Texas knocked off Arkansas in Fayetteville (2004) and won twice in College Station (2003 and 2005) and Lubbock (2004 and 2006) during the streak. Sandwiched between a 55-16 thrashing of No. 21 Oklahoma State (Nov. 8, 2003 in Stillwater) and a 22-20 triumph over No. 17 Nebraska in the snow (Oct. 21, 2006 in Lincoln) was a 25-22 win in the Horseshoe over No. 4 Ohio State on Sept. 10, 2005, which established the Longhorns as a legitimate national championship contender early in a season that ended with Texas snapping the school's 35-year title drought.

 

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Nice work, @Jeff Howe 🤘

[Bunk Moreland]

I’ve enjoyed Jeff’s longer-form articles for years. They really add another dimension to the OTF content. Awesome job as always, @Jeff Howe!

[CGG]

Thanks Jeff.  Awesome article.  I remember a lot of the games highlighted.