AUSTIN, Texas — After a Florida team on a two-game losing streak playing with its backup quarterback came into Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and upset No. 7 Texas 27-24, Steve Sarkisian said everything is up for consideration when it comes to righting the struggling Longhorns.
“Obviously, I’m extremely disappointed,” Sarkisian said. “We didn’t play very good football today, outside about the first quarter. We kind of bled out.”
The Longhorns ran just 50 offensive plays, their fewest since Sarkisian arrived at Texas. Arch Manning was sacked five times and had just 68 passing yards in the first half, finishing with 173 yards and a touchdown, but also lost a key fumble on a sack with 1:58 left, which was recovered by Florida’s Kanye Clark and allowed the Gators to finish off the win.
The loss was a stunner; Florida quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. was making his first career start, and the Gators came into the game with the 110th-ranked defense. Jones finished 22-of-35 with 155 passing yards and two touchdowns and added 10 carries for 41 yards. The loss ended a 22-game home winning streak to unranked teams and Texas became just the third team in AP Poll history, since 1936, to be ranked No. 1 and then lose consecutive games to unranked opponents, according to ESPN Research.
Sarkisian was stark in his response.
“We’re not playing very good football right now,” he said. “I have to evaluate everything. It’s gonna be a long night.”
The Longhorns weren’t able to sustain drives, and Sarkisian was asked if he had considered making a change at quarterback to give someone another look.
“Everything means everything,” he said. “It would be easy for me to say, ‘Hey, Arch was the problem today.’ Was Arch perfect? No. But nobody was perfect on offense today.”
Sarkisian’s role as head coach includes calling plays. As the offense continues to sputter, Sarkisian said, that, too, will be part of his review.
“I don’t know how many times I need to say it,” Sarkisian said. “We’re going to evaluate everything from an offensive perspective. Part of that is play-calling.”
Manning had his third fourth-quarter turnover this season, the most in the SEC, and said their failure to win the final quarter has been frustrating. Sarkisian’s comments about evaluating everything did not catch him off guard.
“Everyone’s evaluated every week,” Manning said. “That’s how it is when you’re at a school like this with elite players. So everyone’s gotta get better.”
Colin Simmons, who has been dominant this season, had eight tackles, four for loss, and a sack, then went down with a lower-leg injury with 13:47 left in the third quarter. He did not return for the day and Sarksian said afterward he did not know the extent of the injury.
Frustration was the key word for Sarkisian. He said “everyone was taking turns” with their part in the offensive struggles.
“I don’t know what we did well in the second half, quite honestly,” Sarkisian said. “Whether it was run or pass. We’re just trying to get a first down to get started.”
Florida had lost 45 straight games when trailing by at least a touchdown at halftime against a top-25 opponent. According to ESPN Research, this was the Longhorns’ largest blown lead at home vs an unranked team since 1965 against Rice.
“We’ve got a better team than we are right now,” Sarkisian said. “And it’s my job to figure out how to get us to play closer to, and then ultimately to, our potential.”
