Texas Football: 4 takeaways from a regular season of progress

Steve Sarkisian made the necessary strides to keep this program on the upswing

The regular season definitely had its fair share of ups and downs for Sark and the Longhorns. Losses to Oklahoma State and the Texas Tech Red Raiders on the road compounded with the flat offensive performance against TCU on Nov. 12 brought about some serious doubts as to the direction that this program was headed in under Sark.

Growing pains were always going to continue to be a part of the process of Sark implementing the culture and the type of players he wants in this program, though.

And we saw some of the dividends being paid this fall in terms of how Sark was able to start turning this culture around with a better atmosphere and vibe within the locker room. Players were more bought into, which was evident with greater effort late in games.

Texas fans also got to see the improvements in real-time throughout this season with this team finally being able to close out games when the Longhorns had double-digit leads on the road. Last season, it would be hard to fathom that Texas would be able to take down a Kansas State team that is playing in the Big 12 Championship Game on the road when a lot of breaks weren’t going this team’s way in the second half.

Sark and his staff continued to be resilient this year, despite some of the struggles that this team faced down the stretch last season during that disastrous losing streak in Big 12 play. Some of these players stuck it out and we saw what a lot of these guys could do when they were put in spots to succeed and were actually developed properly.

Sark mentioned the “resiliency and perseverance” of these players and coaches that he’s harped on and on about this season in the postgame press conference following the win over Baylor. But it’s clear that this message and these values are starting to stick to these players in the locker room.

Texas fans should have confidence in the direction of this team and the entire program with coaches like Sark, Pete Kwiatkowski, Bo Davis, and Kyle Flood inspiring hope for what’s to come in the near future.

This staff is making a lot of the right moves on the field and on the recruiting trail, which is a feeling this fan base didn’t have for the last few years.

Given another successful offseason in terms of player development and making the right moves in the NCAA Transfer Portal, Texas will continue to trend up in the Big 12 (and then upon the move to the SEC) in 2023.