Sarkisian Tells How Special Teams Impacted the Game

 No. 22 Texas beat Kentucky 16-13 in overtime on Saturday night, and it was a game in which the Longhorns were forced to dominate on special teams due to an offense that was unable to move the ball the entire night.

Kicker Mason Shipley kicked three field goals to add on to the singular touchdown that the Texas offense managed to acquire in the first half, and it only happened because Ryan Niblett returned a punt down to the 5-yard line.

Niblett has stood out as a punt returner for Texas recently; he took one back for a touchdown against Oklahoma, and had 99 total yards off of one kick return and a punt on Saturday night.

Special teams played a major factor in the Longhorns’ close win, and head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke about it post-game.

“It’s been huge,” Sarkisian said. “There’s a reason we went and got Mason [Shipley] and Jack [Bouwmeester]. I think Jack had six punts inside the 20. What a massive punt there late to pin them deep for us to get some decent field position coming back out on Ryan’s punt return. All the phases of special teams, Mason’s field goals were all big. The first one was 52 or something like that, the other two: that one at the end of the game and the one in overtime. We’re always trying to be the most complete team we can be. You always want all three phases to be a well-oiled machine right now. We’re just not quite there yet on offense. It’s truly good to know that if you can play defense and play good special teams, you’re always going to have a chance. We need to get going offensively. That’s our task and that’s our job to get that done.”

Sarkisian and the Longhorns will need to ensure that it gets going offensively soon, because if it doesn’t, it’s going to take a rough ride as it travels to face Mississippi State before returning home to face No. 10 Vanderbilt and No. 5 Georgia.

Texas will face the Bulldogs on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. CT on SEC Network.