Steve Sarkisian update is last thing the Horns needed ahead of Mississippi State game

Just hours before the Texas Longhorns kicked off against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, news broke that representatives of head coach Steve Sarkisian had shared that he was interested in leaving the Horns to coach in the NFL.

Dianna Russini, an NFL insider for The Athletic, broke the news, saying that Sarkisian "would be interested in potential head coaching openings, including the Titans’."

This news was the last thing the Longhorns needed ahead of their fourth conference game of the season. Just an hour or so earlier, legendary head coach Nick Saban had said this matchup could be the biggest trap game of the week, and it's not like Texas had been perfect in the games leading up to it.

Also on ESPN's College GameDay, Desmond Howard pointed out just how much the Longhorns have struggled on the road, losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators, as well as nearly losing to the Kentucky Wildcats.

Is Steve Sarkisian leaving the Longhorns?

Behind a struggling offense, led by quarterback Arch Manning, the Horns went to Mississippi State with a 5-2 overall record and a 2-1 record against SEC opponents, two records that looked a lot better than Texas had in games.

The Longhorns eked out a 16-13 win over Kentucky in overtime, following a blowout win over the Oklahoma Sooners, which came after a loss to the unranked Gators.

Simply put, the Longhorns had been inconsistent at best this year, and people were already questioning Sarkisian's decisions for the program when the news broke that he might want to leave anyway.

Sarkisian had been in the conversation for NFL coaching jobs in the past, but the Texas head coach had never expressed interest in leaving the Longhorns until now. While Sarkisian wasn't directly quoted in Russini's report, his representatives sharing the news is more damning than anything the Horns had seen before.

While people processed the news that Sarkisian might want to leave the Longhorns, No. 22 Texas was getting ready to face Mississippi State at 3:15 p.m. CT.