4 overreactions from Texas football’s paramount win over Kansas State
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Sarkisian gave up on the passing game too early with Quinn Ewers
Building off the same point I talked about in the last part of the list, it really felt like Sark and the Longhorns gave up on the passing game in certain situations way too early in this game. Texas looked to have a good rhythm going on offense in the first half, and Sark still deviated from the game plan coming out of the locker room for the third quarter.
In the first half, Texas had 21 passing attempts, which was good for 146 passing yards and two passing scores. Yet, Texas only managed nine passing attempts in the second half, which went for barely over 50 passing yards and no passing scores.
Sark got way too conservative with the play calling at times in this game, handing the ball off to either star junior running back Bijan Robinson or senior Roschon Johnson when Kansas State was stacking the box with eight or nine guys.
In those situations, Texas should be drawing up some simple pass plays to get one of the many skill position weapons that redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers can throw to.
Get the likes of Worthy, Whittington, sophomore tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, Bijan, Roschon, etc., involved in the passing game to pick up those third and shorts late in the game. Texas was doing a nice job of exposing the slower Kansas State defense when Sark got his athletes out in space.
All you had to do was to get either Sanders or Whittington involved, as they were both open in the flats and underneath for a lot of the passing plays in this game. Meanwhile, Sanders picked up five first downs in six catches, so clearly he was doing something right when he got the ball in his hands.
Sark needs to trust his playmakers more on offense to close out these games in the second half.
Furthermore, we saw a strong response from Ewers in this game compared to how he looked in a poor performance in a loss on the road two weeks ago at the hands of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. But Sark still didn’t put enough trust in him to continue throwing the ball in the second half.
I would like to see that change to instill a bit more confidence in Quinn down the stretch in the last three games.