Steve Sarkisian exorcises demons with fourth-down calls in Texas’ comeback win over Ohio State

AUSTIN – About 30 minutes before a wild day at Royal-Memorial Stadium had officially ended with the clock striking midnight, Steve Sarkisian and his wife Loreal stood on the balcony of the football complex looking down over an empty field where a little more than an hour earlier his team had pulled off perhaps the most impressive regular season win in the coach’s six years with the Texas Longhorns.

From a distance, it was impossible to tell what the two were talking about, but the buzz around the stadium was unmistakable: Sark won a big one, and he exorcised some demons in Texas’ improbable come-from-behind 24-23 win over No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday night.

In previous big games, the Texas coach, who at times is hailed as an offensive genius, has been ridiculed for his play-calling, including a questionable pitch play at the goal line against this same Ohio State team in the 2024 College Football Playoff semifinals. So, when Sarkisian called a disastrous end-around to receiver Ryan Wingo on a 4th-and-1 in the final minute of Saturday’s first half that ended up going backwards 10 yards, the murmurs of “same ol’ Sark” began.

Undaunted, Sarkisian continued going for it on fourth down in the second half, not that he had much choice as the Longhorns had dug themselves a 23-3 hole against the No. 1 team in the country.

His biggest fourth-down call came after the Longhorns had cut the lead to 23-10, but were facing a 4th-and-6 at their own 32 with nearly 12 minutes remaining and two timeouts. Sarkisian kept his offense on the field.

“I just felt like we had a little bit of momentum and I didn’t want to give it back to them, I didn’t want to punt,” Sarkisian said. “They’re good and they’re good on offense. All of a sudden they convert two third downs and next thing you know, if you do get the ball back, it might be with a minute or so left in the ballgame, so you roll the dice.”

Arch Manning made the dice come up with a seven when he found Emmett Mosley V crossing over the middle and hit him with a perfect pass for a first down.

Cam Coleman and Wingo, Texas’ more well-known receivers, were working a combination route, but Sarkisian said he told his quarterback through the helmet speaker as he was breaking the huddle, “Hey, don’t forget Emmett on the through route.”

The message got through.

“I think he trusted his eyes and went with Emmett first and he was there,” Sarkisian said. “It was a heck of a throw and catch in traffic and for him to hold on to that ball was a big play.”

There was an earlier fourth-down conversion on the Texas side of the field, but with the score 23-3 at the time, it almost seemed like desperation. Even after tight end Emaree Winston made a catch for a first down that kept alive the drive that resulted in Texas’ first touchdown, a reporter still asked if there ever was any thought on the sideline of just punting on 4th-and-9 down by 20 points so the score “wouldn’t get any worse.”

“Nah, that’s a loser thing. Winner’s win baby. You’ve got to go for it,” said Sarkisian before reflecting on the question for a beat and adding, “Keep it close? They didn’t hire me to keep it close. They hired me to win.”

They also hired him to not dwell on his past mistakes, whether that be in a pivotal play in the national semifinals nearly two years ago or that curious fourth-down call to Wingo in the first half.

Sarkisian knows, despite the hysteria he helped set off as players ran around the field celebrating in front of a raucous crowd of 105,044 fans, he’ll still hear about that mistake he made before things began to look rosier.

“Our fans won’t let me forget about that, nor will these guys that cover me every day,” said Sarkisian, motioning to the sea of reporters in front of him.

Sarkisian says he’s “aggressive by nature,” but his quarterback says it’s more than that.

“It takes a lot of guts,” Manning said. “He has confidence in us.”

All sorts of situations, especially fourth-down conversions, are drilled in practice. The failed play to Wingo was even a centerpiece of Saturday morning’s walk-through in a ballroom in the team hotel. Turns out the hotel ballroom’s defense wasn’t very stout, but that preparation still gives Sarkisian the confidence in his playsheet that he showed in multiple do-or-die situations that resulted in the fourth-largest comeback in program history.

“The players and the staff are the ones that give me the confidence to make those calls,” Sarkisian said. “It’s not some bravado thing that I have, it’s more about, ‘Hey, I’m aggressive because I believe in the schemes and the players we have to go execute it.”

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This article originally published at Steve Sarkisian exorcises demons with fourth-down calls in Texas’ comeback win over Ohio State.