Steve Sarkisian won't change play-calling duties, special teams coach after Oklahoma loss

DALLAS – Following a 27-24 loss Saturday to Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl, two questions and two answers from Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian 's postgame media conference were noteworthy.

After the top-ranked team in the Associated Poll struggled offensively in a setback that was decided by Tate Sandell's 47-yard field goal as time expired, would Sarkisian give up his playcalling duties?

"Not a chance," Sarkisian bluntly stated.

And would Texas consider changing the duties of special teams coordinator Jeff Banks after disastrous showings against Tennessee and Oklahoma?

Sarkisian's answers weren't necessarily surprising. Last year, he rebuffed calls to cede his play-calling responsibilities and argued that "That's why I got hired (by Texas). I was a really good offensive coordinator." Banks has also worked with Sarkisian since both coaches were assistants at Alabama in 2019.

So the important takeaway may not be why Sarkisian answered those questions in the manner that he did on Saturday. The important takeaway may be why two Texas beat reporters - CJ Vogel of On Texas Football and Thomas Jones of the Austin American-Statesman - needed to ask those questions in the first place.

Texas lacks offensive consistency in Sooners setback

Texas (4-1, 1-1) has scored 157 points this season, but 37.6% of those points were scored in the team's season opener against Texas State. The Longhorns scored 24 and 20 points in its close wins over Ohio State and Tennessee, and UT struggled against another Power Four-level defense on Saturday.

Oklahoma (3-2, 1-1) entered Saturday with a creditable defense, and the Longhorns were unable to make the case that reputation wasn't deserved. Oklahoma returned one of Texas quarterback Arch Manning 's fourth-quarterback interceptions into the end zone, and the other turnover set up Sandell's game-winning kick.

Texas did put together four scoring drives against Oklahoma. However, the Longhorns' other 11 possessions went nowhere:

seven plays, 38 yards (missed field goal)

As a result, Texas failed to score 30 points against Oklahoma for the second straight season. The Longhorns had averaged 40.3 points during Sarkisian's first four Red River Rivalry games.

"I think there's a ton of belief in what we're doing," Sarkisian said. "I think you saw some of the explosive playmaking ability that we can have on this offense, but we've got to find a level of consistency. My job is to figure that out."

Said Manning: "We've got to win on first and second down, make third down easier."

Texas can't get things going on special teams for a second straight week

But while UT's performance on offense was concerning, its effort on special teams may have best been described as alarming. Gianni Spetic booted the game-opening kickoff out of bounds and later missed a 53-yard field goal that would have given the Longhorns a late lead. Texas punt returner Ryan Niblett, who scored on a 75-yard return in last year's Red River Rivalry game, averaged 3.2 yards on Saturday's five returns.

Oklahoma's only points in the first half were scored when Mac Chiumento's blocked punt was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. A touchdown off of a blocked punt had last been scored against Texas in 2009.

"We're better than that," Sarkisian said. "I've got to find a way to get our guys playing with more confidence from a specialist standpoint."

During the Longhorns' recent bye week, Sarkisian acknowledged that the Banks-led special teams needed to improve . Against Tennessee on Sept. 26, Texas allowed a punt-return touchdown for the first time since 2013, failed to recover an onside kick and had Spetic send a kickoff out of bounds.

Longhorns express optimism with Florida up next

Sarkisian wasn't the only Longhorn to offer a dissenting opinion to the media after the Longhorns' first loss of the season. When asked if Oklahoma was the better team at the Cotton Bowl, Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons replied "we definitely beat ourselves. Only Texas can beat Texas."

Simmons' defense only allowed 13 points on Saturday, but that side of the football was responsible for two key penalties on one Oklahoma touchdown drive and the Sooners did pick up 33 passing yards in a 16-second span as it set up the game's final kick. So in other words, there was plenty of blame to go around in the Texas locker room. And with Florida coming to Royal-Memorial Stadium this weekend, the Longhorns will have to address their issues immediately.

"There's a level of frustration, a level of disappointment, a level of anger but also a level of optimism knowing we can get these things fixed and we've got a long season to go," Sarkisian said. "We've got a good football team. We're not dead, we're going to be OK. We'll get back up off the mat."