Are the Texas Longhorns beset by fragility?

Calling a football team “soft” is a damning indictment. For players who subject themselves to a daily physical grind to prepare for 12 Saturdays in the fall, “soft” does not seem to be the word that comes to mind.

To that end, the Texas Longhorns do not appear soft. Reasonable yet worrisome explanation exists for some of their problems, specifically in the trenches. Those explanations stem from talent deficiencies in that area, plus game-to-game situations that are not conducive to success.

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Soft isn’t the right word, but after listening to Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian following his team’s 32-24 loss to Oklahoma State, there is a word that is: fragile.

“For us as a team, to go where we want to go, we can’t just hold on,” Sarkisian said following the game. “We can’t think to hold on because a couple of things don’t go our way. We have to think that something good is right around the corner, and the only way it’s going to show itself is if we execute our jobs really well.

“I think right now, we’re in a space where we get a lead, something doesn’t go our way, and we harbor a little bit of the negative thoughts and ultimately those negative thoughts creep into cautious play, uncertainty, and ultimately errors.”

The fragility played out against Arkansas, when no one on either side of the ball stepped up to make much happen until it was way too late. It almost appeared in Fort Worth, but Texas rode the ability of Bijan Robinson to victory.

Against the two Oklahoma schools in the Big 12, it was on display for all to see on national television. There were plenty of early successes in both those games but when things started to go poorly, it continually snowballed into worse and worse situations.

The fear of failure became failure.

“To me, coming out of this game, it was about psyche,” Sarkisian said. “Now, seeing it two weeks, we can’t play cautious. We can’t play trying to hold on, and I think that we do that. I think that we are just hoping the other team might make a mistake, and Oklahoma State didn’t make the mistakes.”

How does Sarkisian address it? How does he, in his own words, “get that fixed and get us to a point to where we’re believing in what we’re doing” like they had been in early portions of the last three contests?

“That’s a great challenge,” he said. “That’s why we coach and that’s why we do what we do and love what we do.”

Of course, some of the responsibility for the mental state of the team falls on the team itself. Most of the players on the roster have been a part of the 30 one-possession games since the beginning of the 2017 season. For members of the class of 2018, who have been around for 25 of those contests, their success in those types of game has dwindled since their freshman season in 2018.

And it continues to dwindle.

In years past, Texas had candidates who would be unafraid to offer choice language to teammates in order to snap them out of a funk. Sam Ehlinger, Sam Cosmi, Joseph Ossai, Ta’Quon Graham, and Chris Brown are a few players that come to mind from the 2020 roster. All of those players are gone, and the ones that have stepped into their place have not performed to the same standard set by those current pros (the Longhorns’ above average record with them on the roster aside).

Those types of leaders don’t appear to be on this year’s team, at least not yet. Neither quarterback who has started for the Longhorns this year has been consistent enough for the demands of either to land. Robinson is a leader, but is he the type of player to get in someone’s face and let them know what the hell they need to snap out of?

He might have to be.

“On me, being a leader of this offense, this team, when that stuff happens, I can’t let that happen to our offensive line, to our receivers if they drop a ball, because then they start thinking about that play before and they’re not thinking about that play ahead.” Robinson said. “When that happens, we just kind of go through the motions and see what’s going to happen during the play instead of actually really honing in and focusing in on the play.”

Who is it on defense? Candidates don’t come to mind quickly considering there have been consistent issues on that side of the ball all year.

Of course, better coordination from Sarkisian and his ten assistants could help out. Continuing to call things his players can execute and believe in as the game goes on should alleviate this governor on his first season in Austin.

“I think we have to work on specific things to address it so when those situations come up again, we don’t get stuck in that low and we get ourselves back into a really clear state of mind with confidence, belief, and executing what we’re capable of doing,” Sarkisian said.

But until it proves otherwise, the Longhorns will be labeled as a team that does not get going when the going gets tough. When the spiral starts, they get on the ride down. Maybe the bye will help.

Things will only get worse if it doesn’t. Fragile things break.

Repair efforts begin this week.