3 questions Steve Sarkisian must answer after bad loss to Texas Tech
So far, the most significant setback of the season went down for head coach Steve Sarkisian and No. 22 ranked Texas football at the hands of new head coach Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders to open up Big 12 play. Texas was upset by Texas Tech on the road in Lubbock this weekend, which came after Sark’s squad held a double-digit lead in the second half.
This tune sounds all too familiar for the Longhorns faithful, as there were three times when Texas held a double-digit second-half lead over a Big 12 foe last season, only to fall short in each game. Last season, Texas blew double-digit second-half leads to the Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys, and Baylor Bears.
This season, Texas already has a blown double-digit second-half lead after just one game in Big 12 play.
As frustrating as this is for the Longhorns faithful, there has to be at least a little bit more patience before calling for Sark to be put on the hot seat right away. I’m not excusing this loss to Texas Tech in the slightest, but the optimism and patience have to be there to believe that this is just a blip on the radar. That is the only way that Sark can work as the head coach for the Longhorns.
Burning questions Texas football HC Steve Sarkisian must answer after collapsing against Texas Tech
Here’s a look at three questions that Sark must answer for the Longhorns after the bad upset loss to Texas Tech on Sep. 24.
“If Ewers was healthy…” is a useless and loser argument. If you type that out and hit send on twitter today, you’re a loser.
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_TFB) September 24, 2022
Can Texas get it done without an overreliance on Quinn Ewers?
A common overreaction coming out of the loss to Texas Tech this weekend was the tendency to blame what happened on junior quarterback Hudson Card.
While there is plenty of blame to go around on all sides of the ball in this game, I think it is lazy and unfair to blame this loss solely on Card.
Could Card have played better at key times in the second half of this game?
Absolutely.
But Card still played pretty well throughout most of this game. He at least played well enough to avoid reasonably taking the brunt of the blame for this upset loss to the Red Raiders considering he managed over 300 total yards and two total touchdowns.
Hopefully we have a healthy Xavier Worthy and Quinn Ewers back next week and for Red River. Need those two and for the defense to show up on third and fourth down
— Hook'em Headlines (@HookemHeadlines) September 24, 2022
I still firmly believe that redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers can take this team to new heights in the next season or two. But the fact of the matter is that Sark can’t only rely on Ewers to get this team going on Saturdays. This potential overreliance on Ewers is the wrong path for Sark and the Longhorns to go down.
The hope concerning Ewers has to be two-fold for the Longhorns. First off, we obviously have to hope that both Ewers and star sophomore wide receiver Xavier Worthy return to the lineup healthy for next weekend’s matchup at home against the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Secondly, Sark has to show that he is able to gameplan and get this team up on Saturdays by way of utilizing multiple different players in ways that maximize their strengths. While it is obvious to say that, it has to be reiterated that if Texas wants to be a winner in the Big 12 that this team must find different ways to win in tough spots, especially when put on upset alert on the road in conference play as they were against Texas Tech.