Steve Sarkisian Was Very Blunt About Texas' Running Game Struggles

At his weekly media availability on Monday, Steve Sarkisian addressed the struggles the Longhorns have had running the ball in a blunt and quick remark.

"It's not working, that's for sure, that's what's going on, to put it as simply as that, it just hasn't hit," Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian elaborated on his statement, remarking that the Longhorns have not been able to find a rhythm in the ground game due to the constant shuffling in the Texas backfield. Which in fact the Longhorns have, with six different running backs receiving carries for the Longhorns thus far.

"We've been roladexing running backs, I think that's a little bit of an issue, a lot of times," Sarkisian said. "When you have a runner, which traditionally for us we've kind of got that lead runner and then a second runner, the lead runner starts to find a rhythm with the timing of the blockers, and we don't have that right now...I think there's rhythm and timing to running the ball."

While much of the blame could be put on the offensive line that struggles all game, Sarkisian noted that an all-around effort is needed to quickly fix the Longhorns' rushing attack, with needed improvements from the offensive line, coaching staff, and from the running backs themselves.

"Now, do we need to block better? Yes. Do we need to game plan better? Yes. Do we need to break more tackles? Yes," Sarkisian said. "We've been spotty from a consistency standpoint in the run game, and that's what we're fighting for, so it's easy to just put our hands in the air and say we can't run it, let's go throw it every down. I just don't believe in that; that's not who we are. So we're going to continue to work on this thing, hopefully we're better on Saturday, we'll find out."

Texas will have a tall task as it looks to bring a fix to its running game woes, as the Oklahoma Sooners have allowed the fewest rushing yards per carry and the second fewest rushing yards per game in the SEC, while only allowing two rushing touchdowns all season.