4 overreactions from Texas football’s late collapse vs. OK State

Another second-half slump for Texas football under second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian ultimately doomed this team as they fell short to the No. 11 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys and longtime head coach Mike Gundy on Oct. 22. This effort from Texas in the second half is still rather confounding and frustrating for the fans on the Forty Acres.

Texas was not able to seal the game after holding another second-half double-digit lead. At one point in this game, the Longhorns held a lead that would be comfortable for most teams with an offense that was rolling at the time. But that’s not how Texas has dealt with double-digit second-half leads under Sark’s direction in the last couple of seasons.

The aforementioned lead that Texas once held in this game was 31-17 in the third quarter. But Oklahoma State wound up outscoring Texas by a margin of 14 points in the second half. Oklahoma State got on this run in the fourth quarter, scoring two touchdowns while Texas was shut out in the final 15 minutes.

This led to Texas ultimately falling short of Oklahoma State by the final score of 41-34. The loss is Texas’ third of the season, and second in Big 12 play. It also shows that Sark and this staff still have a lot of work to do with this team heading into the bye week.

Steve Sarkisian and Texas football can’t hang on to beat No. 11 Oklahoma State

Here’s a look at four overreactions from Texas’ bad second-half collapse in Week 8 against Oklahoma State.

Steve Sarkisian will see the pressure dial up on him in November

This bye week comes at a good time for Sark and the Longhorns. Texas needs to regroup and get healthier following a bevy of injuries this weekend against the Pokes. Sark and the Longhorns saw the likes of redshirt sophomore cornerback Ryan Watts, senior safety Anthony Cook, edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo, etc., all come up with various injuries.

It also looked like junior safety Jerrin Thompson was still dealing with a lagging injury in this game.

But the injuries can’t be the sole reason to blame for this loss to Oklahoma State. Sark is still clearly struggling to get his team right in conference games on the road. Texas now boasts a record of 1-6 in true road games and has suffered nearly a half-dozen losses in the last two seasons when the team held a double-digit second-half lead.

Texas has now blown two second-half leads just against the Pokes in the last two seasons.

All in all, Sark’s team has clearly shown progress this fall compared to last season. But this loss to the Pokes was a step back for a team that has struggled to get the job done on the road, to say the very least. Sark needs to find a way to keep the offense cohesive and in rhythm when this team holds sizable leads in winnable games.

A lot of the responsibility for this loss falls on Sark’s shoulders. He needs to right the ship fast before taking on two of the other top teams in the Big 12 in the next few weeks in the No. 22 Kansas State Wildcats on the road on Nov. 5 and the No. 7 TCU Horned Frogs at home on Nov. 12.