Megan Turner
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The Texas Longhorns reached a new low under the Steve Sarkisian era, as the Longhorns were defeated by the Kansas Jayhawks 57-56 in overtime on Saturday.
Heading into the nighttime matchup, Kansas (2-8, 1-6 Big 12) was a 30.5 point underdog against Texas (4-6, 2-5 Big 12) and was able to pull off a miracle win to mark the team’s first win against a Big 12 team on the road since 2008.
FanNation’s Cole Thompson reports that when Texas hired Sarkisian — fresh off a national title win with Alabama — he told fans of the Forty Acres club his team would be an “All Gas, No Brakes” roster in Year 1.
The first-year head coach has lived up to that promise for the first half of most games — in three straight games, Texas has held a double-digit lead going into halftime. But before kickoff in the third quarter, the Longhorns appear to burn out and Texas loses its momentum and Sark is forced back to square one.
“That was a tough one to swallow,” Sarkisian said Saturday afternoon. “Anytime you lose a game like that, with a little bit of the trend that we’ve had now for three consecutive weeks, that’s tough, it’s tough on our locker room.”
Sarkisian was brought in to fix the mistakes that former head coach Tom Herman couldn’t, FanNation reports. In his time with the program, Herman won all four bowl games in Austin and finished with 7-plus wins each season.
“I’m frustrated for our players because I know what they put into this,” Sarkisian said. “When you don’t ultimately get the result you’re looking for, it’s disheartening for them.”
Texas has two more games on the schedule for this season as the team travels to face West Virginia on Nov. 20 and will host Kansas State on Nov. 26.
It’s safe to say, for now, that Texas football is not back.
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Follow Meg Turner on Twitter @Megnturner_ and Instagram @Megnturner.
Once a school loses its mojo, it’s hard to bring it back. USC, Texas, Miami, Florida State, Nebraska have all fallen and not gotten up yet. As much as I dislike the potato farmer, Harbaugh has brought Michigan back – and if they can beat Ohio State, they will hit the Rose Bowl. Not too easy to find the personality to bring back a falling program.
Texas ran the best coach they’ve had since Darrell Royal off a few years ago, Mack Brown. Brown has done great work in North Carolina. Texas should have held on to him.
Brown was 158-48 at Texas. They won a National Championship in 2005 and they ran him out of town in 2013 after 15 seasons.
Look at who they’ve brought in after they ran Brown away.
Charlie Strong (16-21)
Tom Herman (23-13)
Not sure UNC fanbase will agree that Mack has “done great work” this year…. 5-5 for far. Possibly most disappointing team in country based on pre-season expectations. … Mack was worn out in Austin and needed to recharge for 5 years at ESPN.