Kirk Herbstreit stated he wasn’t second-guessing Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian about one fourth-quarter play name, but it surely certain sounded prefer it.
And the ESPN analyst wasn’t alone after the Longhorns got here up quick in a 28-14 loss to Ohio State within the Faculty Soccer Playoff semifinals that value Texas an opportunity to play for the nationwide championship.
The play in query got here on a second-and-goal from the one-yard line with simply over three minutes left within the fourth quarter and Texas trailing by a landing.
After Jerrick Gibson was stopped for no achieve on a rush try on a primary and aim from the one, Sarkisian went to a pitch play to working Quintrevion Wisner, who was tackled for a 7-yard loss.
Following an incomplete cross by Quinn Ewers, Ohio State defensive finish Jack Sawyer strip-sacked Ewers and ran it again for a game-clinching 83-yard rating.
Requested concerning the ill-fated pitch after the sport, Herbrstreit — who known as the sport on ESPN — famous that the Longhorns ought to have thought of utilizing Arch Manning within the short-yardage state of affairs, as that they had earlier within the sport.
“I’m not ever going to second guess any head coach, especially a guy like [Sarkisian], who works so hard at that,’’ Herbrstreit said. “But I thought you might see the wrinkle [of] Arch come in in that situation, with his ability to run. Maybe a zone read, maybe get him on the edge. Again, I’m not going to second-guess him, but that wide sweep with Ohio State’s defense, as fast-flowing as they are led by Caleb Downs, that was a tough one to go to. They tried to catch them napping and didn’t get it.”
Sarkisian stood by his choices after the sport.
“When we got 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 at all. And we had a plan to try to get the ball on the edge when 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] one of those plays, if you block it all right, you get in the end zone, and we didn’t, and we lose quite a bit of yardage.”
Sarkisian stated the play left Texas “kind of stuck behind the eight ball, because we knew we were in four-down territory because of the score of the game.”
The coach added he was “OK even if we didn’t score — not that I didn’t want to score — but thinking, ‘All right, they’re going to have to be backed up, and we’ll probably get one more possession with good field position.’ The last thing you think 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 turn into Texas’ beginning quarterback subsequent yr 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 level for many of the first half, Texas lastly 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 brand new set of downs, Manning changed Ewers and took a designed quarterback keeper to the far aspect of the sector for eight yards and a contemporary set of downs.
Ewers then re-entered, accomplished two of his subsequent three passes, the latter of which went for an 18-yard landing to Jaydon Blue, to tie the sport at 7-7.
We are going to by no means know what would have occur if Sarkisian had known as Manning quantity within the fourth quarter, too.
