Longhorns suffer sixth consecutive loss at hands of WVU

Prior to the 2021 season, the last time the Longhorns lost six straight games was in 1956 under the direction of Ed Price. In his first season at Texas, Steve Sarkisian matched the dismal benchmark set by Price in his final year at the helm of the Longhorns.

[Subscribe to Inside Texas and get 50% off an annual or monthly membership!]

Sarkisian’s team won’t finish 1-9 like the 1956 Longhorns, but it will finish its season next week against Kansas State after losing on the road at West Virginia, 31-23. The Longhorns almost assuredly secured a winter spent at home without playing in a bowl game for the first time since 2016.

“We just haven’t broken through yet,” Sarkisian said. “That’s the biggest, frustrating part. In every game, it seems like there’s a different story to tell of why that didn’t happen.”

It is the program’s fourth season without reaching bowl eligibility since appearing in the 2009 BCS National Championship game. Sarkisian is likely the first coach since John Mackovic in 1992 to miss a bowl game in his first season leading the program.

The events that lead to Texas’ sixth consecutive loss and seventh of the 2021 season, this one at the hands of the Mountaineers, mirrored aspects from other losses during the losing streak. Quarterback continued to be a position of uncertainty after Casey Thompson, who Sarkisian said postgame was not playing at 100 percent, was benched at halftime.

Hudson Card came in and was 10-of-16 for 123 yards and one score, but he limped off the field late in the fourth quarter. When Thompson returned, he aggravated his nagging thumb injury, bringing Card back into action. By then, there was not enough time to tie the game. Texas’ issues throwing and catching the ball early in the game were not able to be overcome.

WVU quarterback Jarret Doege found Winston Wright and Sam James for first half touchdown passes, while Leddie Brown rushed from two yards out with 2:34 left for the Mountaineers’ three first-half scores.

West Virginia was able to convert 12-of-20 third down attempts throughout the course of the game, including conversions where it needed 15, 18, and 7 yards, the last conversion going for a touchdown.

“Just unable to generate the pass rush to get the quarterback uncomfortable, then obviously the inability to break on the ball and disrupt the passing game for them,” Sarkisian said.

Without Bijan Robinson, the lone threat for the Texas offense was Xavier Worthy. He caught a 52-yard touchdown pass from Card in the third quarter to cut WVU’s lead to 21-17. Worthy’s touchdown reception was his 12^th on the year, placing him one shy of Jordan Shipley’s school record 13 set in 2009.

Worthy’s touchdown was Texas’ second on the day, joining Keilan Robinson’s 49-yard second quarter run. Cameron Dicker hit a 50-yard field goal with 1:13 left in the first half to make it a 21-10 game.

Roschon Johnson rushed from six yards out in the fourth quarter to make it 28-23, but Texas could not convert the two-point try. WVU kicker Casey Legg hit a 45-yarder with 7:03 left, and the Mountaineer defense shut out the Longhorns’ comeback attempt.

Texas’ sixth consecutive loss is a low point on a season that fell apart after Oklahoma’s Caleb Williams ran 66 yards to spark the Sooners’ comeback win. Since then, Texas has surrendered leads, lost to Kansas, seen players transfer, and suffered through several off-field distractions.

It also signifies that Sarkisian won’t be able to utilize the 15 practices that bowl-eligible teams are rewarded with. 2021 will be Texas’ 12^th season since 1970 where the program failed to reach a bowl.

“Don’t think that our players aren’t working hard and trying hard,” Sarkisian said. “Our guys are battling and they’re competing, I give them a lot of credit, and I just told them that. Clearly we are not a finished product.

“This has been a journey that we’ve been on. This has been a difficult stretch that we’ve been on as a team, as a university, as a fan base. But we’ve got a lot of Texas fight in us.”

It’s history, but not the history Sarkisian wanted to make in his first year. As a result, his team will have just one more opportunity to showcase what he believes it has.