Steve Sarkisian will still call plays, not considering staff changes after Texas' loss to Oklahoma

It's time for the Longhorns' coach to admit his staff isn't performing up to expectations

Oct 11, 2026 at 10:08 am ET • 5 min read

Arrogance brings down empires and for Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, his reluctance to make tough, coaching staff adjustments during a season in which all resources have been pushed to the center of the table may come back to haunt the Longhorns.

Sarkisian stiff-armed the idea of giving up play-calling duties or shuffling his special teams staff following Saturday's 27-24 loss to Oklahoma, a rivalry matchup that exposed some of his team's season-long flaws.

"Not a chance," Sarkisian said of stepping away from his dual-role of coach and calling the offense. "We have to play better."

Matched up with one of the SEC's worst offenses coming into the Red River Rivalry game, Texas whipped up a recipe that made the setting ripe for an upset after giving up a special teams score in the first half on a punt block and a defensive touchdown later.

It marked the second straight game the Longhorns failed in the kicking game after Tennessee's Qua Moss scored on a 57-yard punt return in Knoxville.

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Sarkisian quickly fired "no" to a question about "reevaluating Jeff Banks' responsibilities on special teams" in the aftermath, backing an assistant coach who has failed to deliver in big spots recently.

During last season's loss at Georgia, the Longhorns were fooled by a successful onside kick and through five games, Texas ranks in the bottom-half of the SEC this season in kickoff and punting average, kickoff return average and is one of eight SEC teams without a blocked punt or kick yet.

"I feel like we've missed some opportunities on special teams quite frankly," Sarkisian said. "I felt like we had a couple return opportunities that we didn't get. Clearly, two weeks in a row we've kicked the ball out of bounds on kickoffs. We're better than that, and so I've got to find a way to get our guys playing with more confidence from a specialist standpoint. But again, that's my job to try to get that done."

Offensive struggles persist at Texas

Sarkisian has shouldered much of the special teams blame, but hasn't looked in the mirror yet to determine why the Longhorns are battling offensive deficiencies — despite one of the most-talented personnel groupings nationally on his side of the football.

Texas went three-and-out seven times against Oklahoma and currently leads the SEC in three-and-out rate this season, averaging just 1.63 points per possession in two conference matchups (which ranks 103rd in college football).

The Longhorns' 5.4 yards per play average coming out of Saturday's loss this season ranks 104th nationally, only ahead of Power Four offensive doormats like Arkansas, Clemson, Texas A&M, Michigan and Colorado.

Arch Manning's pick-six in the third quarter was a momentum-changer for the Sooners, then came the ill-advised mistake in the final minute on a forced attempt to Cam Coleman in the face of pressure that led to Oklahoma's game-winning field goal.

Longhorns' offense this season (SEC rank)

	Scoring offense	Total offense	Explosive plays	Rushing offense	Sacks allowed	TFL allowed
	31.4 PPG (11th)	379.2 YPG (12th)	73 (15th)	142.2 YPG (12th)	12 (7th)	35 (13th)

Lack of execution is magnified after a loss and often get covered up following wins, but the cracks have been there for Texas throughout the season. Three points over the first three quarters of play during the win over Ohio State left much to be desired offensively, along with the 20-17 victory at Tennessee that was punctuated by 10 sacks from the Longhorns' front seven.

Special teams errors aside, some of that could be absorbed if Sarkisian's offense was simply more productive. Texas missed the College Football Playoff in 2025 with an offense that ranked 70th nationally in production (388.5 YPG) and got there in 2024 despite being outside of the top-20 with Quinn Ewers at the helm.

Since Sarkisian arrived ahead of the 2021 season, the Longhorns have only had a top-30 offense twice, the other coming in 2023. During that stretch, one could argue no coach nationally has had better talent at the quarterback position, either.

Ewers rated as the No. 1 overall player in the 2021 class after signing with Ohio State before transferring to Texas. Manning shared the same distinction in the 2023 cycle and has entered each of his two seasons as the Longhorns' starter with Heisman-level buzz.

Over three seasons in Sarkisian's offense at Texas, Ewers threw for 9,128 yards, 68 touchdowns and 24 interceptions, helping the program to a pair of CFP semifinal appearances. Execution struggles in both of those games stopped the Longhorns short of reaching the national championship.

Manning's thrown for 5,254 yards, 45 touchdowns and 14 interceptions over the last 2.5 seasons, but hasn't always been sharp in big spots for the Longhorns. Against three Power Four opponents this fall, Manning has three touchdown passes and three interceptions and has been sacked 10 times.

He hasn't yet returned to the confident passer we saw down the stretch of the 2025 campaign when he helped Texas win seven of its last eight games, including his performance during the Citrus Bowl victory over Michigan.

Final story not yet written for Longhorns

At 4-1 overall and likely staying inside the top-five despite the loss to Oklahoma, all season-long goals are still up for grabs at Texas. The Longhorns host Florida, Ole Miss and Mississippi State over the next three games before going to Missouri on Nov. 7.

The season concludes with LSU, Arkansas and Texas A&M over the final three weeks, all winnable matchups if the Longhorns can find some semblance of consistency and execution offensively.

The seeding is different this week for Texas, but Sarkisian's team remains in great shape for a first-round home game in the CFP with a high-end finish. Ten wins guarantees an at-large both, especially with the resume-boosting victory over Ohio State last month.

Another 9-3 campaign, however, complicates the conversation. And if it happens, Sarkisian will only have himself to blame.

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