Steve Sarkisian sends clear message in defense of Texas' struggles

Texas is 3-2 overall, having lost each of their games of note so far this season, and have since fallen from the rankings. That said, the Longhorns’ losses are more than understandable, considering the circumstances, to Steve Sarkisian.

Sarkisian was asked about his team’s struggles to this point this fall during his press conference on Monday. He reminded us that Texas has lost two games against quality teams, one in the non-conference and one in conference play, on the road in two of the tougher venues in college football against the Buckeyes, the defending champions, in The ‘Shoe and against the Gators in The Swamp. With that, Sarkisian challenged the rest of the teams in the sport to try that and see how they do.

“I don’t know if I’m stunned,” said Sarkisian. “I mean, take the other – how many teams are there in college football, 136? Take the other 135 and have them go play at Ohio State and at The Swamp. See how they do.”

That’s a fair-enough take by Sarkisian based on the Longhorns’ schedule, namely their first two games against power opponents being on the road in their season opener versus No. 3 Ohio State and their conference opener about a month later against Florida. Columbus and Gainesville are two of the most-difficult places to play in the entire sport, regardless of how good the hosting opponents are. The Buckeyes are then the top-ranked team in the country now while the Gators, after underachieving the first month of the season, played their best outing yet, with Texas losing to both of them by just a possession each by seven points and eight points respectively.

That said, the fact of the matter is that Texas is 3-2 with no resumé, because of those losses, coming out of the first weekend of October. Their three wins are against mid-major opponents, who they handled by an average of 34.3 points per margin in Austin, and their two losses already have them unranked for the first time in three years, as well as trending out of postseason projections. That’s with a lot of season left to go with games against Oklahoma in Red River on Saturday as well as versus Vanderbilt and Texas A&M and at Mississippi State and Georgia left. Unless there’s some improvement, specifically offensively, from here on down on The 40 Acres, the Longhorns are unlikely enough to win out against that slate, which would cost them their preseason expectations of competing for the SEC or making a third-straight trip to the College Football Playoff.

Sarkisian is right that not many teams are likely to leave both Ohio Stadium and Ben Hill Griffin at 2-0, let alone at 1-1. Still, Texas’ schedule isn’t getting that much easier, home or away, with almost no room for error now for the Longhorns.