Steve Sarkisian defends Casey Thompson, addresses Texas run game

Things did not go as planned for Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns on Saturday, as they took to Waco and blew a double-digit lead for the third consecutive game, losing to Baylor 31-24.

Texas quarterback Casey Thompson completed 23 of his 38 passing attempts against Baylor, throwing for 280 passing yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Thompson shouldered the load of Texas’ offense in the defeat, as the Longhorns didn’t have a productive night on the ground. Even so, Thompson didn’t look his best. But Sarkisian was still quick to defend his quarterback after the loss to Baylor, noting that his one interception wasn’t even his fault.

“The [interception] before the half I don’t think was Casey,” Sarkisian said of Thompson. “I think the ball ricocheted off of Josh’s hands and ultimately got intercepted. I don’t think that was Casey at all.”

Thompson took on a bigger load in Texas’ loss because Bijan Robinson, Sarkisian’s star running back, managed just 16 carries for 43 yards and one touchdown. Thompson added 31 rushing yards of his own on five carries, but the Texas Longhorns run game was uncharacteristically quiet on Saturday, creating some concerns about the offense down the stretch of the season.

“The running game was tough. We knew that coming in,” Sarkisian said, noting Baylor’s strong defensive front. “These guys [Baylor] have a big unit up front. They’re really good at nose tackle, which we talked about, and they made that aspect of it hard. I thought we had some opportunities in the passing game that we took advantage of, but there were some that we missed; for one reason or another, it didn’t happen. But the run game, when that doesn’t go the way we want it to go, that shifts our style of offense that we really want to be, so we’ve got to continue to grind at that, to find. way to effectively run the football so that we can utilize the play-action pass the way we want to.”

Sarkisian’s Longhorns looked in position to pull off the upset for most of the game; as late as the third quarter, Texas held a 21-10 lead over Baylor. Instead, Texas joined 2018 Tulsa and 2018 West Virginia as the only teams to blow a lead in three straight games over the past five years. The Longhorns have been outscored by 45 points in the fourth quarter of the last three games.

With the loss to Baylor, Texas has not only blown three straight double-digit leads, but it has also amassed its first three-game losing streak since Charlie Strong did so in 2016. Sarkisian has a long road ahead to turning around the Texas program, as the Longhorns have just a 2-3 Big 12 record, tied with Kansas State for fifth in the conference. With the way Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor and Iowa State have been playing, the gap between the Texas and the top of the Big 12 continues to grow.

Sarkisian has been eliminated from Big 12 postseason play in his first season at Texas, but the Longhorns are likely to finish bowl-eligible with a 4-4 overall record and four regular-season games left against No. 22 Iowa State, Kansas, West Virginia and Kansas State.