Special Teams Has Become A Major Problem for the Texas Longhorns

The No. 1 Texas Longhorns suffered one of the more disappointing losses of the Steve Sarkisian era on Saturday in Dallas, falling to the Oklahoma Sooners in a thrilling 27-24 finish.

There were a ton of reasons why Texas lost to an unranked Oklahoma team that looked dead in the water over the past few weeks.

But arguably none of these issues were as notable as the mistakes on special teams, which has become a theme for Texas since the end of SEC play last season.

Recapping Texas' Special Teams Mistakes From the Past Two Games

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian looks on before the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Cotton Bowl. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The special teams errors have piled up for Texas during the first two games of SEC play:

Here's a recap of what's gone wrong on that end from both the Tennessee and Oklahoma games:

- blocked punt for a TD vs. Oklahoma

- Punt return TD vs. Tennessee

- two kickoffs out of bounds

- botched double returner strategy vs. Tennessee

- failed onside kick recovery vs. Tennessee

- 29-yard punt from Mac Chiumento vs. Oklahoma that led to the Sooners' only offensive touchdown

On top of that, there's the missed go-ahead field goal in the final minute against Oklahoma. That was ultimately Sarkisian's decision and can't really be chalked up as a special teams "mistake" but it no doubt adds to the long list of things that simply haven't gone right in that area of the game for the Longhorns.

To make matters worse, Sarkisian even admitted that the coaching staff recognized the punt block look that Oklahoma deployed on the touchdown but they were still unable to stop it.

"I couldn't see exactly. It was tough to tell all the way back up. Obviously, they had a free guy coming. We knew the look that they were coming with. Felt like we had good protection. I'm not exactly sure exactly what happened," Sarkisian said.

Last season, the special teams miscues were masked by Ryan Niblett's pair of clutch punt return touchdowns against Oklahoma and Mississippi State. But when he isn't taking it back to the house, the mistakes become much more obvious.

The offense has its own issues. But the Longhorns can't afford to look back on this season and live with the possibility of multiple losses coming as a result of not being able to execute on special teams.

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