Texas Football: What to do when nothing else is working?

Following the loss to the Baylor Bears over the weekend in much of the same fashion as the previous two games, the Texas football program needs to resolve a major issue. New head coach Steve Sarkisian saw his squad squander another fourth-quarter lead against a ranked opponent.

This is starting to look like clockwork now for Sark and the Longhorns. Coughing up fourth-quarter leads is something that has now happened in three straight games with no apparent reason why. There are indicators as to why this is happening, but it can’t explain how such a problematic pattern couldn’t get corrected out of a bye week.

It all started back on Oct. 9 when the Longhorns had a big second-half collapse at the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners and head coach Lincoln Riley. Texas was outscored 45-20 after the first quarter, and just couldn’t quite bounce back from there. Sark and the Longhorns would lose that game by the final score of 55-48.

Then, Texas had something similar happen in a key Oct. 16 meeting with the Oklahoma State Cowboys and head coach Mike Gundy. Texas owned a double-digit lead in the second half. But they would be outscored by a margin of 29-7 to close out the game. And Oklahoma State would score the last 19 points of this game.

That meeting between Texas and Oklahoma State a few weekends back would end with the Pokes winning by the final score of 32-24.

And then, Texas had a shot to respond out of the bye week in a road matchup against No. 16 ranked Baylor over the weekend. Texas faced Baylor on Oct. 30 in a game that felt more like a must-win for Sark and his staff than any prior outing this season.

Once again, Texas took a lead into the fourth quarter but wound up coughing it up. At one point in the second half against the Bears, Texas owned an 11-point edge. But Baylor would go on a 21-3 run in the second half to get this win by the final score of 31-24.

A late fourth-quarter rally would fall short for the Longhorns to keep them from tying the game.

There’s not one source of blame for all of these losses. This just can be traced back to a lack of leadership and effort at this point. Texas’ defense completely falls apart in the second half, the offense can’t get any sort of rhythm, and the body language of the coaching staff often looks lost on the sidelines.

You do have to start the blame from the top-down. Sark and his coordinators have to instill the right mindset in their players. After that, key leaders on each side of the ball need to step up and make plays when it matters most. Redshirt junior quarterback Casey Thompson got the nod earlier this season over sophomore Hudson Card largely for this type of reason.

Thompson is someone that just looked to be a gamer and could efficiently lead drives for Texas to get more points per possession than this group could with Card leading the way. But that’s what the Longhorns got out of Thompson in the last few weeks.

And you can’t place all of the blame on his shoulders. But something needs to change with this offense, and he has to be a catalyst of change in clutch time for this team if he wants to remain the starting quarterback.

Thompson was better against Baylor than he was against Oklahoma State statistically. The problem against Baylor was the fact that he was coming under pressure more often late in the game. He completed roughly 61 percent of his passing attempts against Baylor, good for 280 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, one interception, along with 31 rushing yards on five carries.

Moreover, there has to be a leader that steps up to get this group energized on the defensive side of the ball too. It looks like this defense is lacking one true leader that can make plays and energize this group when it matters most. Senior leaders such as Keondre Coburn, D’Shawn Jamison, DeMarvion Overshown, etc. haven’t stepped up into this type of role yet.

Casey Thompson and Steve Sarkisian have figuring out to do for Texas football this week

Something has to give in this regard too.

Texas doesn’t have a bye week to hang its hat on here. The losses to Baylor and Oklahoma State were both absolutely inexcusable after the embarrassment that was the nightmare collapse against the Sooners in the Red River Rivalry game.

At one point, there were expectations of Texas being able to make a run to the Big 12 Championship Game. There is more than enough talent on this team that an expectation like that wasn’t out of the question. But the Big 12 Championship Game is very far out of reach at the moment.

We’re getting tired of asking the question of how expectations need to be reset or where to go from here. I’m not saying it’s time for heads to roll, because that couldn’t be further from the truth. But something has to change.

Personnel adjustments and just game-planning changes have to be made first and foremost. Sark and this staff need to know who they can rely upon the most in crunch time. Get those guys on the field at a better time to prevent these collapses.

And stop getting away from giving the ball to the top playmakers late in games. Let the likes of Xavier Worthy and Bijan Robinson do their thing late in games.

There is a path forward here that makes sense. Texas just has to shake this unbelievable pattern of collapsing late in games as they have of late.

Texas now carries a record of 4-4 (2-3 Big 12) following the one-possession loss to Baylor on the afternoon of Oct. 30. Up next for Sark and the Longhorns is a difficult matchup with the Iowa State Cyclones on the road on Nov. 6.