Steve Sarkisian Reveals Key to Making Texas Longhorns A 'Complete Offense'
Texas football still controls its destiny in winning a conference title one final time in the Big 12 before departing for the SEC. Despite a harrowing loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown, hope is far from dwindling in Austin.
But for the No. 8 Longhorns to secure a spot in Jerry World in early December, their offense must find a more complementary balance. Plays can no longer be determined on a hot hand from Quinn Ewers or a breakaway run from Jonathon Brooks.
“If we want to be a complete offense in the second half of the season, we’ve got to run it. We’ve got to play-pass people, we’ve got to throw it, we’ve got to do all those things to make it really difficult to where hopefully a defensive coordinator feels like, ‘man, I’ve got to pick my poison, right? How do I want this to go?’" Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "Then we execute and we call the plays in a timely fashion and the quarterback makes good decisions and takes advantage of those things.”
Consider the season's first half more so a "run this or that" formula. Ewers would either throw it 35-plus times or be relegated to somewhere around 21-22 snaps. The same goes for the ground-and-pound approach.
Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers (No. 3) delievers a pass from his end zone against Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas
BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK
Offensive balance isn't a bad thing, either. Opponents having one hand tied behind their back because of the unknown play call could actually be considered a blessing.
Tempo is important, too. Sarkisian mentioned that while the offense has been picking up stream weekly, it's essential not to allow opponents a chance to forge a comeback.
In the 34-30 loss to the No. 5 Sooners (6-0, 3-0 Big 12), Texas (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) won the time of possession battle (32:11-27:49) but still left too much time on the clock late. Bert Auburn drilled a 47-yard field goal with 1:17 remaining to give the Longhorns a three-point lead.
Sooners star Dillion Gabriel put together a Heisman-caliber drive within 62 seconds, marching 75 yards on five plays to connect with Nic Anderson for a 3-yard score.
“I think one thing that sometimes I take for granted is we’re moving the ball at a really high clip offensively right now with our average yards per play and the efficiency with which we’re doing it," said Sarkisian
The Longhorns travel to Houston on Saturday to take on the Cougars for the first time since the disbandment of the Southwest Conference. Emphasis has been on capitalizing inside the red zone, an area the Longhorns have struggled all season.
“Our red zone execution is an area where if we want to be the team that we think we’re capable of being, we have to take that to another level,” he said. “That evaluation was not just of the players, that was of the coaches, that was of the game plan, that was of the play caller.”
Kickoff from TDECU Stadium is scheduled for 3 p.m.
