NFL
By: Brock Vierra
As Steve Sarkisian embarks on his third season in Austin, he’s already done something his predecessor didn’t do in four years. Sark has a losing season. Sark also has never won a bowl game. The man previous, Tom Herman, won four straight and took Texas to the Sugar Bowl which ended in victory over Georgia, prompting then Texas QB Sam Ehlinger to say “We’re back.” A claim that is clearly incorrect. Now Sarkisian has his crown jewel in Arch Manning, the potential savior of the Longhorns despite already having Quinn Ewers, one of the highest graded High School prospects of all time on the roster.
We shall conveniently ignore the fact that Sark has wasted the careers of Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson, and DeMarvion Overshown. We should conveniently forget he sent Hudson Card and Casey Thompson packing after ruining the potential they had or starting Card over Thompson when Thompson was clearly better. Whatever decision Sark makes, it’s the wrong one. He’s got a hot temper which causes him to melt in the second half of ballgames. Long story short, barring a dramatic turnaround in 2023, the time has run out on Sark.
He’s a coordinator. That’s clear as day. The most amount of wins he’s had in a year is 9. Washington is clearly much better under DeBoer and they were much better under Petersen than they ever were under Sark. USC is much better under Riley and was better under Kiffin than when Sark was the Trojans’ head man and Texas was much better under Herman than him. I’m not gonna touch on 2021 even though it was their first losing season in five years. Let’s look at 2022. Big transfers in Ewers, Jahleel Billingsley, and Agiye Hall brought excitement to an offense overflowing with talent but only Ewers put in a decent campaign.
Ewers, clearly limited by Sark’s play calling was also limited due to injuries in 2022. Texas went 8-5 but only 2 of those wins came against teams that finished the year with a winning record. A ranked road win against eventual Big 10 champs Kansas State and against Conference USA’s UTSA. Only 1 win over a Power 5 team with a winning record isn’t good, going 1-5 against teams with winning records is very, very bad. Being favored 4 times in those 5 losses is horrible. Texas will continue to suffer if changes are not made.
With the SEC on the horizon, Longhorn fans need to be concerned. Ask Texas A&M how much better they are because of their recruiting top SEC talent. Texas underachieves constantly, and the defense being a revolving door of points despite having NFL-level talent is unacceptable. Don’t let Texas’ performance against Alabama fool you. Sark only almost beat the Crimson Tide because he knew all the defensive schemes and checks because he was Alabama’s old OC. He also went against the Bama defense, Nick Saban’s, and Pete Golding’s defense everyday in practice, and instead of being mad, he acts like it was a win. That he and Texas “just ran out of time.” Well, my patience has run out of time. Sark is outmatched, outcoached, and lacks the killer instinct needed to remain Texas’ top man.
With their future being in the SEC, with Ole Miss getting better and better with Lane Kiffin, Bama being an everlasting dominant force, Georgia winning two straight National Titles, Tennessee emerging as America’s next top program, LSU winning the SEC West, Texas right now is closer Vanderbilt then any of the top players in the conference. Sarkisian is clearly not the man who can change that so it’s best to try again with another coach then continuing to suffer under him. If you want to stay stagnant as a program, just go to College Station and become an Aggie.
