OTF Premium What Steve Sarkisian liked, what Texas must fix coming out of loss to Ohio State

[Jeff Howe]

AUSTIN, Texas — Steve Sarkisian opened his press conference on Monday, more than 48 hours after Texas kicked off the 2025 season with a 14-7 road loss to Ohio State, with his thoughts after reviewing the game.

Sarkisian’s film study confirmed that the Longhorns left too many yards, opportunities and points on the field at the Horseshoe to avenge their College Football Playoff semifinal loss to the Buckeyes in January.

A streak of 24 consecutive games forcing at least one turnover was snapped (a 34-30 loss to Oklahoma in 2023 was the last game in which the Texas defense failed to record a takeaway).

Three penalties charged to the defense (illegal hands to the face calls against Colin Simmons and Liona Lefau and a defensive holding call against Malik Muhammad) aided a touchdown drive and wiped out a safety, which put the Longhorns on the losing end of a nine-point swing.

Even with Jack Bouwmeester averaging 46.2 yards per punt, with three of his four punts pinning Ohio State inside its 10-yard line, Sarkisian said Texas must be better at playing complementary football, beginning with Saturday’s home opener against San Jose State (11 a.m., ABC).

“I thought in the first half we had some really good field position that we didn't capitalize on offensively, that the defense and special teams got us,” Sarkisian said. “Conversely, we had some good field position on defense.

“I just didn't think we did a good enough job of pinning them deep and flipping the field back in our favor.”

Obviously, the offense going 1-for-5 on fourth down, with two turnovers on downs occurring in the red zone, isn't conducive to winning games against elite-level competition. 

“We were aggressive initially, obviously, with the first fourth-down sneak, and then the fourth-and-2, which we didn't convert,” Sarkisian said. “A couple of the fourth downs late were, kind of, because of the situation, we, kind of, had to go for them. They were what they were.”

On the other side of the coin, Sarkisian liked his team’s fight.

The offense “played much better in the second half,” he said. Arch Manning and the Longhorns tallied 257 total yards on 41 plays from scrimmage (6.3 yards per play) and recorded six of their seven explosive plays (four pass completions of 15 yards or more and two rushing attempts of 10 yards or more).

He came away pleased with what Texas generated on the ground (166 yards on 37 official rushing attempts). With Quintrevion Wisner (16 carries for 80 yards) and C.J. Baxter (10 carries for 40 yards) leading the way, the Longhorns averaged 4.5 yards per rushing attempt as a team (the Buckeyes allowed 4.5 or more yards per carry in just three of their previous 29 games, a stretch in which the Ohio State defense held opponents to under 100 yards rushing).

“I think our ability to run the football was evident in the game,” Sarkisian said. “To go into that environment against that defense, to rush for just about 170 yards, I thought, was good for us.”

Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense held the Buckeyes to 3.8 yards per play, 2.3 yards per rushing attempt, a 3-for-12 effort on third down and just two explosive plays (a 16-yard reception by Jeremiah Smith and Julian Sayin’s 40-yard touchdown pass to Carnell Tate) on 54 snaps.

“I thought, defensively, we played a very good football game,” Sarkisian said.

Individually, Sarkisian singled out a few Longhorns for their performances in all three phases.

“I was proud and happy for Cedric Baxter. I think he had 15 touches in the game, his first game back not playing for a year — 10 rushes, five receptions,” Sarkisian said. “I thought Manny Muhammad competed his tail off Saturday against a great player in Jeremiah Smith. I thought Jack Bouwmeester was fantastic. He's a weapon for us in the punt game. I thought to have four [new] full-time starters on the offensive line [Trevor Goosby, Connor Stroh, Cole Hutson and Brandon Baker], and the way that they performed was definitely encouraging. I think Arch, in the second half, I thought we started to see the glimpses of what he's capable of.

Sarkisian wrapped up his thoughts on the loss to the Buckeyes before fielding questions on Monday with a message befitting a coach and a team looking to turn the page after learning a lot about themselves.

“A lot to look forward to this season, I think, of where this team can go,” he added. “We've got a ton of potential. Now, we've got to make that come to life.”

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[Jeff Howe]

These quotes and Sark's breakdown of the Ohio State game are from his opening statement today, which you can find the bulk of right here (it starts at the 1:10 mark):

 

[Waxahorn]

Our penalty on that potential safety was a killer. That could have very well swung the outcome of the game.

[Dawnpatrol75]

There’s a certain caliber player you can play in game 1 vs a top 5 opponent, away from home. O Sark knew we wouldn’t have plays to burn on “new” talent especially at WR. Those guys will get their time to shine (hopefully) this month. 

[4thandFive]

I’m sure they’ll get better, but it seems Sark outthinks himself too much.

Edited 9 hours ago by 4thandFive

[LonghornFan4Ever]

We won’t really know how much this offense has improved until they go to Gainesville and Dallas back to back, but what I want to see over these next three games are:

- Anyone who is injured to get healthy and anyone who is not injured to stay healthy.

- More creativity in the red zone.  Nuff said.

- The short and intermediate passing game to come to life with the QB and WRs.

- Getting the other RBs involved in the run game.  Building off that performance against Ohio State.

[alrightalrightalright]

I keep watching the failed goal line attempt. I really wish this was a handoff to Baxter and he ran left behind Goosby / Endries.

[SuperDave0805]

2 hours ago, Waxahorn said:

Our penalty on that potential safety was a killer. That could have very well swung the outcome of the game.

A penalty also kept their 1st scoring drive alive

[Hesity]

Great angle. Hopefully the next time we’re in that situation, they send Arch in with two calls. 
 

On these type of plays, idk why you bring the receivers in so close to the line. Isn’t the idea to get defenders away from the ball carrier? If you’re going to qb sneak, go five wide and take five defenders out of the play. 

[SuperDave0805]

20 minutes ago, alrightalrightalright said:

I keep watching the failed goal line attempt. I really wish this was a handoff to Baxter and he ran left behind Goosby / Endries.

Kyle Flood or AJ Milwee who I assume are in the press box should have seen how Ohio St was stacked in the middle and screamed at Sark to call timeout and not run that play

[alrightalrightalright]

4 minutes ago, SuperDave0805 said:

Kyle Flood or AJ Milwee who I assume are in the press box should have seen how Ohio St was stacked in the middle and screamed at Sark to call timeout and not run that play

1000%

[alrightalrightalright]

15 minutes ago, SuperDave0805 said:

Kyle Flood or AJ Milwee who I assume are in the press box should have seen how Ohio St was stacked in the middle and screamed at Sark to call timeout and not run that play

We snapped it with 23 seconds left too, so helmet communications were still on to communicate with Arch if they wanted to audible.

Edited 7 hours ago by alrightalrightalright
Image

[Rick]

49 minutes ago, alrightalrightalright said:

I keep watching the failed goal line attempt. I really wish th
is was a handoff to Baxter and he ran left behind Goosby / Endries.

I thought that at the time and looking at your screenshots, it’s clearer that would have had a much better chance than the sneak. That’s what OSU did on their first TD. 

[Game of the Century]

A lot of great points have already been made.  

I’ll just  say that while penalties killed us, Shark was out coached and Arch failed to execute simple short passes at  critical moments and frankly throughout the game. How many easy throws did he drill into the ground or throw behind wide open receivers?  He also made terrific passes and I believe he will become more consistent  over  time. But at some point Sark has to prove he can win against elite competition because he hasn’t done it as a head coach and more importantly at Texas. The win against Saban two years ago is the only one. Michigan last year doesn’t count because they were bad. Since then, two losses to Georgia and two losses OSU. The monkey is getting a large on his back.  
 
On the positive side,Hats off to the defense. If you only allow 14 points,, your team ought to win even if you committed penalties that gave the other team seven of those points. 
 
The good news is that if the offense can just become competent, this team could go all the way. 

 

[HDub1995]

Curious to get the mods thoughts on the evolution of Sark’s offense. Time will tell, but it feels like in the biggest games we get out-schemed. Almost like Sark doesn’t change things up enough and more so relies on having more talent than the other team. 
 

Appears that some defensive-minded coaches have figured out how to prepare for this offense. Will be curious to see how Florida and OU play out. 

[SuperDave0805]

2 hours ago, alrightalrightalright said:

We snapped it with 23 seconds left too, so helmet communications were still on to communicate with Arch if they wanted to audible.

Good point. I forgot about teams having that now 

[NothinButDaHorns34]

3 hours ago, Hesity said:

Great angle. Hopefully the next time we’re in that situation, they send Arch in with two calls. 

Unfortunately there’s been way too many “next times” with sark and goal line play calls. I think his goal line issues are definitely rare contrary to what he wants to believe. 

[SuperDave0805]

Could be worse guys, We could have Jordan Hudson's Grandpa/Boyfriend as our coach 

[Judd_Irby]

1 hour ago, Game of the Century said:

A lot of great points have already been made.  

I’ll just  say that while penalties killed us, Shark was out coached and Arch failed to execute simple short passes at  critical moments and frankly throughout the game. How many easy throws did he drill into the ground or throw behind wide open receivers?  He also made terrific passes and I believe he will become more consistent  over  time. But at some point Sark has to prove he can win against elite competition because he hasn’t done it as a head coach and more importantly at Texas. The win against Saban two years ago is the only one. Michigan last year doesn’t count because they were bad. Since then, two losses to Georgia and two losses OSU. The monkey is getting a large on his back.  
 
On the positive side,Hats off to the defense. If you only allow 14 points,, your team ought to win even if you committed penalties that gave the other team seven of those points. 
 
The good news is that if the offense can just become competent, this team could go all the way. 

 

Five years ago, we would not have had the players to compete in this game.  Credit Sark for recruiting elite talent to put us in position to win.  Execution and communication were critical and were unfortunately missing.  Go Horns.  

[AusMOJO]

Hey Jeff. I know Brooks is slated as a T and I'm fine with that but talking about next year's OL (I know, I know lol) would we benefit from putting him at G, assuming T depth is sorted, if Goosby comes back? That way you'd have assumed starters of LT - Goosby, LG - Stroh, C - Cruz, RG - Brooks, RT - Baker. 

Anyway, just a hypothetical I was thinking about. Good write up, per usual. 

[AusMOJO]

5 hours ago, alrightalrightalright said:

I keep watching the failed goal line attempt. I really wish this was a handoff to Baxter and he ran left behind Goosby / Endries.

They knew where it was going, not a great idea at all. Half their D is crashing the line. How many guys is Hutson supposed to block, 3 guys crashing right at him. At least a hand off to Baxter gives him a chance, imo. 

[AusMOJO]

5 hours ago, SuperDave0805 said:

A penalty also kept their 1st scoring drive alive

Two penalties, I believe. 

[AusMOJO]

5 hours ago, SuperDave0805 said:

Kyle Flood or AJ Milwee who I assume are in the press box should have seen how Ohio St was stacked in the middle and screamed at Sark to call timeout and not run that play

I'm not sure who's in the booth for games, but you're right. How you see that and aren't telling Sark to take a time out to figure something else out.