Steve Sarkisian reveals if Texas can fix its offensive issues in-season

The Texas Longhorns are fighting for their chances to make it back to the College Football Playoff this season. There’s one major issue, though, and that’s the offense, which head coach Steve Sarkisian has had to navigate all year and had its issues flare up again this past weekend.

Sarkisian was recently asked about finding a solution to that offense, and if it was possible to do so in-season. Ultimately, there’s a reality that some of it can be adjusted for in the short term, but Sarkisian also knows there are longer issues there as well.

“I would probably say they’re both,” Steve Sarkisian said. “Right? I think any issue can be fixed short term. One of the easiest ways to fix something if you’re not running a specific scheme very well, you don’t have to call it. We can gravitate more to things we do well, whether it’s the run game, the pass game, the screen game. Whatever that is.”

Texas scored just 16 points in an overtime effort against Kentucky over the weekend. That ended up being enough to win, but the offensive issues remained a massive concern during the game. The Longhorns had just 179 total yards, including just 47 rushing yards. On third down, Texas converted just five of 16 attempts. They also held the ball for just 20 minutes and 37 seconds on the day.

It was also another game where quarterback Arch Manning was heavily criticized for his play. That’s become an uncomfortable trend after he had been hyped as a potential Heisman candidate coming into the year.

“I think, naturally, if you feel like, hey, we’re not adequate enough at a certain position, well, you can protect that guy in a position right now, and monitor his development long term. You can protect him now but say, we may have to do something in the offseason, or hey, you know what? We want to get better at a scheme, we need to go study specific coaches that are really good at it to say how are we going to get better at it in the offseason,” Sarkisian said. “But in the short term, maybe we just don’t emphasize that as much.”

For an offensive minded coach, like Sarkisian, it’s been difficult. The statistics prove that out. Texas is just 80th in total offense, averaging just 368.1 yards per game. They’re just 73rd in rushing yards, averaging 149.43 yards per game, and 79th in passing offense, averaging 218.7 yards per game. On top of all of that, the Longhorns are 80th in scoring offense, averaging 26.7 points per game.

Steve Sarkisian on why he won’t give up play-calling duties

Everything in the Texas operation has been criticized this season. That includes Steve Sarkisian for his play calling. However, he’s not planning on giving up those duties because that’s why he believes he earned the job.

“No, because that’s why I got hired. I was a really good offensive coordinator. I believe in what we’re able to do. Every year, we have to continually evolve. There’s going to be years where we’re better on offense than we our on defense. There’s going to be years where we’re better on defense than we our on offense,” Sarkisian said.

“It’s like, if I was the best outside sales guy and I had a start-up company, surely I’m going to go to the sales meetings if I’m trying to sell something. If that’s one of your strengths — I’m always going to tap in to the strengths that I have. Being a play-caller on offense is one of my strengths. Some may disagree, and that’s okay.”

The Texas offense is going to be in the spotlight this weekend. They’ll be on the road, looking to take down Mississippi State and avoid a third loss.