Kirk Herbstreit said he wasn’t second-guessing Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian about one fourth-quarter play call, nevertheless it sure gave the impression of it.
And the ESPN analyst wasn’t alone after the Longhorns got here up short in a 28-14 loss to Ohio State within the College Football Playoff semifinals that cost Texas a likelihood to play for the national championship.
The play in query got here on a second-and-goal from the one-yard line with just over three minutes left within the fourth quarter and Texas trailing by a touchdown.
After Jerrick Gibson was stopped for no gain on a rush attempt on a primary and goal from the one, Sarkisian went to a pitch play to running Quintrevion Wisner, who was tackled for a 7-yard loss.
Following an incomplete pass by Quinn Ewers, Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer strip-sacked Ewers and ran it back for a game-clinching 83-yard rating.
Asked in regards to the ill-fated pitch after the sport, Herbrstreit — who called the sport on ESPN — noted that the Longhorns must have considered using Arch Manning within the short-yardage situation, as that they had earlier in the sport.
“I’m not ever going to second guess any head coach, especially a man like [Sarkisian], who works so hard at that,’’ Herbrstreit said. “But I assumed you would possibly see the wrinkle [of] Arch are available in that situation, along with his ability to run. Perhaps a zone read, possibly get him on the sting. Again, I’m not going to second-guess him, but that wide sweep with Ohio State’s defense, as fast-flowing as they’re led by Caleb Downs, that was a tricky one to go to. They tried to catch them napping and didn’t get it.”
Sarkisian stood by his decisions after the sport.
“Once we got right down to the one, we went to a heavy package, which is Jerrick’s package,’’ Sarkisian said. “We ran it, and we obviously didn’t get much movement in any respect. And we had a plan to attempt to get the ball on the sting once we got down there. They went to big people. I can’t quite tell, it was on the far side of where it got leaky. But [the pitch is] considered one of those plays, in the event you block all of it right, you get in the long run zone, and we didn’t, and we lose quite a little bit of yardage.”
Sarkisian said the play left Texas “sort of stuck behind the eight ball, because we knew we were in four-down territory due to rating of the sport.”
The coach added he was “OK even when we didn’t rating — not that I didn’t need to rating — but considering, ‘All right, they’re going to need to be backed up, and we’ll probably get yet another possession with good field position.’ The very last thing you think that is the sack, and it’s going to bounce right to the guy, and he’s going to run for a touchdown.”
Manning, the nephew of Eli and Peyton, and in line to develop into Texas’ starting quarterback next 12 months if Ewers enters the NFL draft, he made a key play to increase a drive within the second quarter, which led to the Longhorns’ first rating.
Held with out a point for a lot of the first half, Texas finally scored with 29 seconds left within the second quarter, aided by Manning’s quarterback keeper on a fourth-down play.
With the ball at midfield and one yard to achieve for a recent set of downs, Manning replaced Ewers and took a designed quarterback keeper to the far side of the sphere for eight yards and a fresh set of downs.
Ewers then re-entered, accomplished two of his next three passes, the latter of which went for an 18-yard touchdown to Jaydon Blue, to tie the sport at 7-7.
We are going to never know what would have occur if Sarkisian had called Manning number within the fourth quarter, too.
