Steve Sarkisian optimistic about Casey Thompson, Texas offense

First-year head coach Steve Sarkisian decided after Texas’ 40-21 Week 2 loss to Arkansas that it was time for a change, as he replaced then-starter Hudson Card with Casey Thompson at quarterback. And so far, so good.

Since the change, Thompson has led the Longhorns to three-straight wins, and although the first 58-point win over lowly Rice was nothing to boast, the next two — a 70-point performance in a win over Texas Tech and a solid game in a win over TCU — showed Thompson’s potential.

Thompson’s performance against TCU was far from perfect, but he got it done when it mattered most. Thompson finished the game completing 12 of his 22 passing attempts, throwing for 142 yards and a touchdown, while also throwing an interception. Sarkisian is optimistic about his quarterback’s future, especially after a “gritty” performance last week.

“There were a couple really big plays there late for him. I thought that the deep ball to Whittington first — maybe he’s not exactly on,” Sarkisian said of Thompson, who recovered after his mishaps. “We’ve all been there, whether you’re a quarterback or a pitcher. But then he hit [Whittington] on that deep post, and then to come back after the third-down conversion where we ran it with Bijan, to come right back with the RPO and hit [Whittington] for the touchdown. For us, [that] helps, and that’s really the next-play mentality that we’re talking to these guys about.”

Thompson’s performance alone isn’t what pushed Texas to victory. Running back Bijan Robinson deserves the bulk of the credit. The Longhorns’ bell cow back helped out Thompson to the tune of 35 carries for 216 yards and two touchdowns.

“Whatever happened has happened. We’re going to learn from it, we’re going to keep what we’ve got to give the next play the focused energy that it deserves,” Sarkisian said of the mindset he’s engrained in Thompson. “Casey did a heck of a job of that at a really critical moment right there on that first down.”

Sarkisian was also highly complementary of Thompson in the game’s final minutes. Texas received the ball with just over four minutes left in the contest, and Thompson was able to execute a nine-play drive in which the Longhorns were able to chew all four minutes of clock — despite TCU using its final two timeouts.

“I loved the four-minute drive at the end of the game,” Sarkisian said, praising Thompson’s ability to orchestrate the last possession. “We got the ball back and we had to finish the game on offense. We had to go get those first downs, we had to run the football and we probably blocked the run better on that drive than at any other point in the game.