Sarkisian feels for players in lost season
MORGANTOWN, W.VA. — Texas didn’t expect Saturday to end like this, with its bowl hopes dashed, losing streak extended and a sub-.500 record guaranteed.
But that’s the space these Longhorns (4-7, 2-6 Big 12) now occupy after their 31-23 loss to West Virginia (5-6, 3-6) at Milan Puskar Stadium. That’s six straight losses for Texas and first-year coach Steve Sarkisian, who will close out the regular season next Friday at home against 7-4 Kansas State.
“The reality of it is, as we build this thing, as we build this culture, recognizing that this has clearly been a difficult stretch for our players and for our coaches,” Sarkisian said Saturday. “And I feel for those guys because they battle, they compete. They gave themselves a chance to be in that game late, unfortunately we just couldn’t make the plays to (win).”
Before looking ahead to Kansas State, a look back at Texas’ loss to West Virginia:
Texas getting thin at QB
Junior quarterback Casey Thompson started and played the entire first half. Nursing an injured thumb on his throwing hand, he completed just 4 of 14 passes for 29 yards with one interception.
Redshirt freshman Hudson Card played most of the second half, going 10 of 16 for 123 yards with one touchdown. He led two touchdown drives, one including a dazzling 52-yard touchdown pass to freshman Xavier Worthy, and pulled Texas within five, 28-23, early in the fourth quarter.
“Casey was not 100 percent coming into the game. I think
that was evident. He just couldn’t throw the way I know he’s capable of throwing. When we went to Hud at halftime, I thought Hud competed his tail off, gave us a chance. And then he gets injured.”
Card also got banged up near the end of the game. Thompson replaced him and threw a costly interception on fourth down with 2:51 left.
After Thompson exited again because of an injury, Card hobbled back out with 30 seconds left for a few final plays, but he was visibly uncomfortable.
Afterwards, Sarkisian noted both quarterbacks were receiving X-rays, and he’d have an update on Monday. Third-year walk-on Ben Ballard is Texas’ third-string quarterback.
Texas can’t focus on third down
Last week, Kansas faced 17 third downs and converted 11 times.
This week, West Virginia faced 20 third downs and converted 12 of them. The Mountaineers also converted on third-and-18, thirdand-15 and fourth-and-5, all in the second half, all on scoring drives.
All those conversions kept Texas’ defense huffing and puffing on the field. That would’ve been a bad development even if starting weakside linebacker Demarvion Overshown (foot) and cornerback Josh Thompson (fibula) were available — without them, the Longhorns had little depth even when they could rotate.
West Virginia ended up with
more than a 17-minute edge in time of possession (38:26-21:24) as a result.
Xavier Worthy is a marvel
The season might be lost, but Worthy isn’t.
The true freshman receiver starred once again, leading Texas in receptions (seven), targets (12), receiving yards (80) and receiving touchdowns (one). He was on the other end of Card’s 52-yard touchdown bomb during the Longhorns’ second-half rally, blazing past one defender and hauling in the accurate toss.
Already the school’s freshman single-season leader in catches (56), yards (916) and touchdowns (12), Worthy needs just one more touchdown reception to match Jordan Shipley’s single-season program record of 13.
Keilan Robinson underutilized
With workhorse Bijan Robinson out, Texas leaned on running backs Roschon Johnson and Keilan Robinson. Both fared well, with Johnson turning a team-high 15 carries into 77 yards and one touchdown.
And Robinson again looked electric in limited action. The Alabama transfer junior ripped off a 49-yard touchdown run as part of his nine-carry, 111-yard day, to date his most active at Texas. He also added 16 yards on one reception.
On the season, Robinson is averaging 7.2 yards per carry (27 attempts) and 7.8 yards per reception (five catches). In other words, he’s about 3 yards shy of becoming a walking first down, something this offense could sorely use.
Texas isn’t going bowling
Texas played in a bowl every year from 1998 to 2009. But since 2010, it has failed to qualify for a bowl game in four of 12 seasons, including this one.
The loss to West Virginia also clinched the program’s fourth losing season since 2010. And Sarkisian will join Dana X. Bible as the only first-year Texas coaches to finish with a sub.-500 record.