Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian didn’t mince words when asked about his team’s struggles in the red zone on the penultimate offensive line against Ohio State.
The Longhorns were losing 21-14 and had a first-and-goal situation from the Ohio State 1-yard line. However, two negative rushing plays followed by an 82-yard fumble recovery by Jack Sawyer for a touchdown ultimately ended Texas’ chances for a national championship.
Sarkisian explained the entire red zone series in his postgame press conference, while also acknowledging that Texas “didn’t deserve to win” after failing to score from the 1-yard line.
“The first two plays, we threw the ball toward the back of the end zone and got back-to-back PI (pass interference calls),” Sarkisian said. “When we got to the 1-yard line, it flew to a heavy package, which was a Jerick (Gibson) package, so we ran it and obviously there was no movement at all. There was no plan to get the ball. We drove it to the edge, but they brought in some big guys and it was one of those plays where if you blocked it well you could get to the end zone, but we didn’t and we lost a little bit of yardage.
“At that point, we were going to be behind the eight-ball because we knew from the score of the game that we were in fourth-down territory,” Sarkisian added. “Even if we didn’t score, they would have been backed up and we were okay thinking we would get one more possession with good field position.The sack happened and the ball bounced very close to the ball. It’s unthinkable to do that.” It was a shame the offense had such a great drive down the stretch because he was the guy that could have led to a touchdown, but if they could get to first-and-goal from 1st. And given the score we don’t get, we probably don’t deserve to win. ”
