Sarkisian touts progress in second year
AUSTIN — From Steve Sarkisian’s point of view, the information sounded encouraging.
“Somebody just told me a stat,” Texas’ second-year coach said Monday. “This is the second time, I think, in the last nine years Texas has won eight regular-season games. So we’re moving in the right direction comparatively from where we were a year ago.” Sarkisian had the right data. No. 23 Texas (8-4, 6-3 Big 12) did finish its regular season with eight victories for the second time since Mack Brown’s 16year reign ended following the 2013 campaign. (Texas happened to go 8-4 in the regular season that year, too.)
He was also right about the Longhorns improving from last year’s abysmal 5-7 record. They finished third in the Big 12 and will play in the postseason, likely in the Alamo Bowl. And they’re on track to land a topfive signing class for the second consecutive year.
But Texas didn’t pay former coach Tom Herman $15 million to go away and guarantee Sarkisian $34 million to celebrate eight-win seasons. And while Herman could be a grating personality — his support for players who didn’t want to sing “The Eyes of Texas” also rankled many hidebound boosters behind the scenes — he managed to lead Texas to 10 wins and a Sugar Bowl title in his second year and finished 7-3 in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.
Sarkisian has topped out at eight wins in three of his nine seasons as a head coach at Washington (2009-13), USC (2014-15) and Texas. And only twice has a Sarkisian-led team ended a season ranked in the Associated Press top 25. Washington finished at 25th in 2013, and USC was 20th in 2014.
But Sarkisian does retain the credibility that stems from winning a national title as Alabama’s offensive coordinator. And many of his peers consider the former BYU quarterback one of the top offensive minds in college football — Texas ranks 21st nationally in scoring offense and 36th in total offense this year.
Recruiting seems to be going well, too, despite some ups and downs on the field.
The Longhorns have landed verbal commitments from Isidore Newman senior quarterback Arch Manning, the nation’s No. 1 recruit and one of the most ballyhooed prospects of the internet age, and five-star DeSoto wideout Johntay Cook II. Clearly, there’s still something alluring about playing for both Sarkisian and Texas, now an even more attractive program thanks to numerous name, image and likeness opportunities.
Improvement is improvement, whether it’s modest or massive. These Longhorns, who lost to Alabama, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and TCU by a combined 18 points, were better than they were in 2021, in some cases significantly so.
Texas ranked outside the nation’s top 98 in total defense, rushing defense, and scoring defense last year. This season, the Longhorns rank 28th in rushing defense, 30th in scoring defense and 51st in total defense.
“I’m so proud of these guys for the leaps and bounds they’ve made,” Sarkisian said. “Just statistically, when you look at last year stats to this year’s stats and how far they’ve come.”
Texas could also make a compelling case for being the country’s most maddening “what if ” team. As Sarkisian said Monday, “It’s natural to look at a couple of the ballgames and say shoulda, coulda, woulda and what this thing would look like now.
“In the end, man, we’ve got to look at areas for where we did grow and be proud. And then also look at the areas for where we can improve moving forward.”
Still, some key issues from 2021 reared their heads again in 2022.
Texas lost two winnable Big 12 road games against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, both times failing to maintain a halftime lead. It fell flat in a pivotal 17-10 loss to TCU. The quarterback play was erratic, as redshirt freshman Quinn Ewers struggled to regain his form following a three-game absence due to a sternoclavicular sprain. And Sarkisian’s play-calling could oddly veer away from what was working.
To his credit, Sarkisian admitted the need to improve in all those areas for the coming season.
“I’ve tried to value myself as my toughest critic,” Sarkisian said. “I wish I would have found a way to run the football better in the second half (against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State) to try to control the games more to where our defense wasn’t playing so many snaps. Against TCU, I just wish we would have played better (on offense), quite frankly. I wish I’d done a better job of preparing us to play.” A pivotal month looms. The early signing period runs from Dec. 21-23. A bowl and a chance for this program to finish with nine wins for only the third time since 2010 follows.
Inking a top-five class and winning a bowl won’t mean Texas is “back.” But those outcomes would represent steps forward heading into Sarkisian’s third year.
“There’s a lot of moving parts this month,” Sarkisian said, “but in the end, I think there’s a lot for this program to be proud of.”