Steve Sarkisian discusses his aggressive style of coaching and relationship with 'The Book'

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has had a shocking start to the year in trying to convert on the “money downs” of football.

[Sign up for Inside Texas TODAY for $1 and get the BEST Longhorns coverage!]

Texas has begun the season 12/42 on third downs (28.6%) and 5/12 on fourth downs (41.7%). Both of those numbers rank within the bottom 50 in the nation. Overall, the two combined leave Texas at 31.5% on must-convert downs. Even if you account for Sarkisian using some third downs to build into success on fourth, that number probably still doesn’t eclipse 40%.

Sarkisian admits that this has been a problem for his offense.

“We had some really makeable third downs that we didn’t make, and then I really felt great about the fourth downs that we didn’t make,” Sarkisian said. “And part of that might be some execution. Part of that might be, you know, somebody doing something a little bit differently than we did it in practice, which caused maybe somebody else to do something a little bit differently.”

What he means when he says he felt “great about the fourth downs that we didn’t make” is that he liked the idea of taking them. He’s glad he made those calls; it’s just that the execution was off enough that Texas couldn’t convert.

That all ties back into his philosophy as a coach. He added to the quote above by saying:

“We have to remain aggressive, and I think that’s part of the standard that we’ve created around here. We’re an attack-oriented football team. We’re going to attack you on offense. We’re going to be aggressive on fourth down.”

Sarkisian mentioned something interesting to the media when asked to explain further about his decisions to go for it on fourth down these past games.

He noted that he hadn’t yet checked with “The Book” before he decided on his fourth-down calls this season.

“The Book” refers to analytics, something that has overtaken the sport in the past few years. There’s always going to be an algorithm that teams and coaches use that will tell them whether or not the data supports a fourth-down attempt, or the conservative punt or field goal.

Some coaches can become too reliant on these numbers, but Sarkisian admitted that he didn’t consult the data before making his decisions this past weekend.

Texas was two for five on fourth downs against UTEP, turning the ball over three times in Miners territory, twice within field goal range and once within 10 yards of the goal. Still, Sarkisian stands by these plays and even sees some irony in them.

“Frankly, I’ve probably been a little more aggressive than what the book would say, what analytics would say. Luckily, the two times that I did go for it and the book said I should probably kick it, we made it both times,” Sarkisian said. “I said to myself, maybe I’m a little smarter than the book, you know, because there’s some gut instincts involved. There’s some trust in your team involved. There’s some style of the way the game is going that’s involved. And so it just so happens we’ve been put in those situations early in games.”

The two plays that did work had identical scenarios: 4th and 1 at the UTEP 22, with a Jerrick Gibson run extending the drive. It makes sense why analytics don’t love it; a chip-shot field goal and converting doesn’t even assure you’re in the red zone.

But Sarkisian is going to operate this way, especially in the early parts of the game. The difference between a field goal and no points is greater than a field goal and a touchdown (most of the time), making a converted fourth-down play more impactful than kicking the field goal. That type of math doesn’t always work late in games, but this type of aggression came in the first and second quarters. That’s how he will coach his team.

Sarkisian is an aggressive-minded coach at heart, and he’s not going to change his ways because of a few poor performances early in the season.