After the ugly loss for the Texas football team against the Ohio State Buckeyes last Saturday, 14-7, the sports world has questioned the validity of how effective the team will be this season. As people have criticized Sarkisian's game plan for the Texas football team against Ohio State, he would speak on where the program needs to improve come Week 2.
Sarkisian would speak to the media a few days removed from the frustrating loss to the reigning champions, where a lot of eyes have focused on the head coach and quarterback Arch Manning. He would highlight the need for the Longhorns to play “complementary football” in future games as the offense fell short of the defense, which only allowed 14 points.
“We've got to be better at playing complementary football. Thought in the first half, we had some really good field position that we didn't capitalize on offensively, that the defensive and special teams got us,” Sarkisian said, according to Wescott Eberts.
“Conversely, we had some good field position on defense,” Sarkisian continued. “I think Jack [Bouwmeester] pins him three times inside the 10, and we get stopped on the one. So four times they had to start drives inside their own 10, and I just didn't think we did a good enough job of flipping the field back in our favor.”
The offense would only score seven points, which came on a touchdown pass by Manning with under four minutes left in the football game, missing out on a bevy of opportunities throughout the game.
Texas football's Steve Sarkisian on the “biggest thing” after Ohio State loss
While some fans might have reasons to panic after the Texas football team lost to Ohio State, it is key to remember it's only the first game of the young season. Sarkisian would also speak about sophomore wide receiver Ryan Wingo, saying he had “flashes” during the game and mentioned how he needs to improve after finishing the contest with two catches for 35 yards.
“Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian said WR Ryan Wingo had flashes where he showed what kind of player he could be, but there were other moments when he could have been better,” Anwar Richardson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Despite the attention from the game being negative, since the program lost, Sarkisian has a silver lining to the performance, as it showed there is “lots to build on” from the defeat to the Buckeyes.
“I think the biggest thing coming out of it is lots to build on from that game,” Sarkisian said. “I thought we built on a lot of things during the game. I thought we played a much better second half than we did in the first half. I thought all the way through our guys played hard. They fought. I think that was obviously evident there all the way into the fourth quarter at the end of the ball game.”
The Longhorns will look to bounce back in Week 2 against San Jose State.
