Sarkisian Speaks on Late-Game Failure

 When the Longhorns lost on Saturday, it was the result of an entire game executed poorly, but more specifically, the end of the game came down to a failed conversion on fourth-and-5 from the 50-yard line.

With quarterback Arch Manning finally hitting his stride in the fourth quarter, Texas put its first points of the game on the board, making it a 14-7 game. The defense held up, and Texas then had a chance to tie the game late.

After a 30-yard pass to tight end Jack Endries, the Longhorns lost all momentum, and the drive was halted at midfield. After the inability to gain a first down, the game was on the line for Texas when fourth-and-5 arrived.

Texas lined up on the field with Manning in the backfield, the running back to his right, two receivers out to the left, the tight end on the line, and a receiver out alongside the right sideline.

Manning took the snap, and before he was able to complete the drop-back, he was under heavy pressure from the Ohio State defensive end. Manning swiftly dumped the ball off to the tight end, who was in coverage on the left side of the field, and about three yards short of the first down marker. The ball was turned over on downs, and the Buckeyes won the game.

When immediately looking back at the play, it appears as though Brandon Baker, the right tackle, completely fails to identify the blitzer off the right edge, and instead shifts left to help double-team another blocker. This is what leads the rusher to go unblocked and get to Manning within two seconds of the snap. However, Sarkisian says it wasn’t all on him.

“We just didn’t communicate very well on the last play. It looks like it’s all on [Brandon Baker] when in reality it’s really the totality of all of them,” Sarkisian said. “It was poor communication, and that’s when your communication has got to be at its best: at the critical moments.”

After another look at the play, pre-snap motion let Manning identify that the Buckeyes were in man coverage, although who really knows if Manning picked up on that. But DeAndre Moore, the receiver in motion on the left side of the field, was covered by the safety, who was playing high. The safety was delayed in driving down on Moore, which left Moore open in the middle of the field.

Who knows whether it was the pressure or something else, but Manning failed to identify and hit Moore in the middle of the field, which quite possibly would have led to a first down and kept the drive going.

But communication is key, and it was nowhere to be found, and nobody except for the coaches and the players knows exactly what was supposed to happen that play. All we know is that it has to improve.

Maybe it’s just coach talk and it really was on Baker for the most part, but the whole team struggled throughout the whole game, so it would make sense that the whole team struggled yet again to communicate and execute when it was really needed.

Hopefully, the Longhorns will be able to successfully improve on their communication failures, as well as others, as they make their way through practice and prepare for a game against the San Jose State Spartans on Saturday. The game will take place in Austin at DKR and kick off at 11 a.m. CT on ABC.