Texas's ground game has evaporated at the worst time
Despite having a huge edge size wise in the trenches at the line of scrimmage on each side of the ball, the Longhorns lost the battle big-time for the rushing-yard margins vs. the Sun Devils.
Texas's rushing attack pretty much disappeared for long stretches of this game against Arizona State's defensive front seven, rushing for just 53 yards on 30 carries, good for a clip under two yards per carry.
Sophomore running back Quintrevion Wisner led the team with 45 rushing yards on 18 carries, averaging around 2.5 yards per carry. Wisner also had a fumble that resulted in a safety for the Longhorns in their own end zone in the second half.
For the first time this season, Wisner didn't have any explosive run plays, along with a fumble and no touchdown runs.
Texas couldn't find much running room at all for Wisner or junior running back Jaydon Blue. The Sun Devils effectively loaded the box and kept Texas's ground game with Wisner and Blue bottled up in the second half.
It didn't seem like Sarkisian was very convictive coming out with the passing game in the second half, instead of trying to force the ground game down Arizona State's front seven's throat in the game's final 30 minutes. Arizona State had six run stuffs and eight tackles for loss against Texas in this game.