Oklahoma 27, No. 1 Texas 24: Five observations and Sunday chat

An absolute abomination of a result.

Coming into this season, I had the Texas Longhorns losing a couple of games and still making the playoff. I did not have them losing this matchup in any of my calculus coming into the season, and I certainly did not have this game as a loss with how the season had played out for both teams heading into this matchup.

There is shared blame all the way around in this result. All three phases played a role, and the coaches, who prepared the team, need to wear it as well.

There is nothing positive you can really say about this result, and it comes out of a bye where you were able to get some guys healthy. The schedule only gets tougher from here, and if this game was any indicator, this team is not trending in the right direction.

Sarkisian’s offense comes up small in the second half

I’m going to keep it a buck early and often in this write-up, because there is no need to mince words. This is Steve Sarkisian’s offense with a lot of money and resources poured into it. We are now five games deep into the season, and this offense has not come close to sniffing its ceiling.

Arch Manning contributed to the loss with two absolutely back-breaking interceptions on Saturday. Manning is in his fourth year in the system and in his second full season as the starter. How is he still struggling with the speed of the game and not processing things at an acceptable level? Both of those interceptions were completely avoidable and did not have to happen. The final one that led to the game-winning field goal, he was late on the throw, and in a position to simply throw the ball away. Instead, it’s right into the chest of the Oklahoma defender. Something simply isn’t taking and we are way too far down the road in development to chalk this up as a lack of experience thing. Sarkisan, AJ Milwee, and Mike Bimonte all work with Manning week in and week out. Someone is not earning their keep for this stuff to still be a bugaboo.

I was ready to give Arch some flowers for bouncng back from the pick-six and leading a 75-yard game-tying drive, but then he did what he did in the final offensive drive of the game. If you had told me coming into the game that it would be Manning and not Mateer making two back-breaking turnovers to cost his team the game I would have called you a liar.

Accountability time, coach. Your offense disappeared for stretches of the game again and struggled to sustain drives once again. Sure, those things you mentioned definitely contributed to the game, but that blocked punt was tied directly to your offense not pissing a drop when you were backed up and put Oklahoma’s special teams unit in a position to sell out for the block.

Pride and ego have got plenty of coaches fired over the history of football. There is clearly some disconnect somewhere along the lines of the Texas offensive ecosystem, and Sarkisian still seems dead set on not loosening his grip on the controls. At the end of the day, if the offense does not get its shit together Sarkisian will only have himself to blame, and with the amount of money that was funneled into the offensive side of the ball he will have a lot of explaining to do to people who make the decisions in Austin.

What is the identity of this offense five games into the season? What can they hang their hat on when the chips on down? There are still a lot of questions, and only the head man can answer them at this point.

The special teams coach deserved to walk home from Dallas

What exactly did Jeff Banks and his special teams units do over the bye week?

You can’t tell me they came into this game prepared despite having an extra week of prep time. The blocked punt, the opening kickoff going out of bounds, still not blocking worth a damn on the return units, and the punter shanking punts and gifting Oklahoma good field position. Oh, and of course don’t forget the missed field goal with the game on the line, though I would have likely gone for it given how things were going because a 53-yarder in that spot is incredibly difficult.

What is Banks providing as far as value? The special teams miscues are a calling card at this point and not just some occasional flare-up. They played a huge role in Texas losing the ball game on Saturday, and at this point you can’t just wave it away.

This, this, THIS! These issues have been happening over the course of multiple seasons since Banks arrived with Sark in Austin. At some point you are coaching it that way, or you are allowing it to happen. And either way, you slice it’s a problem.

Same feelings as when Sark says he ain’t give up the play-calling duties. If the special teams issues continue to be a problem and get you beat again down the road, like everything else the blame will fall at this feet.

The Texas defense lost its edge in the second half

The Texas defense has been really good this year, and with how things went in the first half, it looked like they were on their way to pitching another shutout and completely dominating the matchup once again. Then halftime happened and Oklahoma started getting some push up front in the run game and started moving the football.

The Texas defense went from being on the attack to being more on their heels and instead of keeping the pressure on John Mateer and the Oklahoma offense they seemed like they were just trying to hang on and get through the game. I don’t know what the conversation was at halftime, but there was a clear difference in aggression from this group from the first half to the second.

Just can’t happen, man. The play was dead because the secondary played it perfectly, but you come in high on a wide receiver throwing the ball of all people and you gift wrap them a first down when it should have been 1st and 10 Texas going the other way.

Brutal, brutal, brutal.

I’m not as pissed at the defense as the other phases of the game, though. They held Oklahoma to 238 yards of total offense, under 100 yards rushing, and held the Sooner offense to 2-of-13 on money downs. They largely held down Oklahoma’s two primary threats for majority of the game. Everyone will remember Isaiah Sategna’s two clutch catches late, but he was held to five catches for 64 yards. Rocky Beers was held to four catches for 29 yards. They could have done a little better at getting off the field in the second half, but they did enough to win this game.

I feel like I’ve typed that a lot and it’s getting annoying.

Oklahoma scored in every phase of the game

Weird shit happens in the Red River game. Everyone talked about it leading up to this game and its the reason why you can never truly feel comfortable about the matchup regardless of how the teams have played coming into the game.

Oklahoma came into this game battered and bruised both physically and mentally. None of that mattered once the game was teed up and going because Texas kept them in the game by any means necessary.

You allow a rusher to run right down the heart of your punt protection for an easy blocked punt that is recovered for a touchdown.

Your quarterback then makes a terrible throw that is returned for a touchdown, allowing them to take the lead late in the game.

Then you keep their offense alive by gifting them a free first down on a completely avoidable penalty on a trick play that was sniffed out from the very beginning.

That’s how you lose this game, or hell, any other game left you on your schedule. Those kinds of in-game blunders will get you beat, and Texas reaped exactly what they sowed on Saturday. There is no way you can polish up a turd like that and it is frustrating the more you sit and think about it.

Sark should have gone for it on 4th and 2

The moment Texas got into that position on the field in the fourth quarter I knew they were in a hell of a dilemma. They were truly in No Man’s Land on the field. Your kicker has plenty of leg to make it, but who the hell trusts a college kicker in that situation?

My gut feeling in-game was that you should have gone for it there and just lived with the consequences even though Oklahoma’s defense had already beat you in short-yardage situations prior in the game. The rest being, is that you had the momentum with the drive at that moment, and it was a manageable down and distance that left plenty of the playbook open. I would much rather you take your chance dialing up a winning play in that situation than hoping your kicker makes a long field goal in a pressure-packed situation.

No shade to Gio Spetic, but that was easily the biggest kick of his life coming from Ohio and Memphis. That is an extremely tough spot and a tough ask for any kicker at this level. We saw Sark let his nuts hang against Ohio State on fourth down, but on Saturday he shied away from the moment and left it up to his kicker.

The kick goes wide right and, well, the rest is history as they say.

There is nothing I can really say that will make you feel better about that one. It was a shit sandwich of a result and it now gets compounded by the upcoming schedule you are going to have to navigate.

Next up will be the Florida Gators, who are on a two-game losing streak and will be looking to make it two wins in a row against you. Regardless of what has happened to them in the past two weeks, they are a dangerous team and they more than capable of beating your ass.

You need to watch the film, make the corrections, and get your mind right because nobody in blue and orange is going to feel sorry for you come next Saturday.

The 24-hour rule is officially in effect. Get it out of your system and move on to Florida.