Steve Sarkisian explains red zone play in Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State

Steve Sarkisian said Friday night after the Cotton Bowl that if a team can’t force its way into the end zone from first base on the opponent’s 1, it doesn’t deserve to win.

Texas was in that exact spot against Ohio State in the fourth quarter Friday night. Trailing by 7 points with just over 2 minutes left, the Longhorns went from first-and-goal from the 1 to fourth-and-goal from the 8. Quarterback Quinn Ewers turned the ball over on fourth down and Ohio State took the above. fumble 83 yards for a game-winning touchdown.

Sarkisian wasn’t responsible for the fumble, but he was lambasted by everyone for the sequence of play calls that led to that moment.

When he met with reporters at the postgame press conference, he explained the sequence of play calls.

“Yeah, definitely, the first 2 plays we threw the ball in the end zone, we got back-to-back IPs. Arriving at 1, we moved on to a heavy package, which is Jerrick’s package. We ran it and obviously didn’t have a lot of movement. Steve Sarkisian said. “And we had a plan to try to put the ball on the rim once we got there. They went to important people. I can’t really say – it was on the other side of where the leak happened. But it’s one of those games, if you block correctly, you get in the end zone, and we didn’t, and we lost quite a few yards.

“And at that point you’re kind of stuck behind the 8 ball because we knew we were in 4 territory because of the score of the game. And I was fine even though we didn’t score, not that I didn’t want to score, but I thought, “All right, they’re going to have to be backed up, and we’ll probably get 1 extra possession with a good one.” position on the ground. The last thing you’re thinking about is the sack, and it’s going to bounce right off the guy, and he’s going to run for a touchdown.

On first-and-goal from the 1, fullback Jerrick Gibson was placed over the middle for no gain. On second down, Texas attempted a draw play to the left to Quintrevion Wisner and lost 7 yards. Ohio State’s Caleb Downs was in the backfield almost immediately and was quickly followed by a swarm of Buckeye defenders.

Ewers was pressured by Jack Sawyer on an incomplete third down, and Sawyer then headed home on fourth down.

“It’s unfortunate that those were the circumstances, because the offense had a really good effort to get here.” First and goal on the 1 and we don’t score. Frankly, you probably don’t deserve to win this way.

Derek Peterson does a little bit of everything, much like Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12 and now offers CFB-wide content.