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Steve Sarkisian explains running toss play near goal line

Grant Grubbs Profile Pictureby:Grant Grubbs01/13/25

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Texas HC Steve Sarkisian
Jerome Miron | Imagn Images

With just under four minutes left in the fourth quarter of the Cotton Bowl Classic, Texas trailed Ohio State 21-14. However, it didn’t look like the Longhorns would be behind for long when they marched their way down to the Buckeyes’ 1-yard line.

Then, the unexpected happened. Ohio State held Texas for three plays straight and stripped quarterback Quinn Ewers on fourth down before taking the fumble to the house to secure a 28-14 lead. After the game, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian weighed in on the red zone failure.

“The first two plays, we threw the ball into the end zone, we got back-to-back PIs,” Sarkisian said. “When we got down to the one, we went to a heavy package, which is Jerrick [Gibson’s] package. We ran it, and we obviously didn’t get much movement at all.

“We had a plan to try to get the ball on the edge when we got down there. They went to big people. I can’t quite tell — it was on the far side of where it got leaky. But that’s one of those plays, if you block it all right, you get in the end zone, and we didn’t, and we lose quite a bit of yardage.

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“And at that point, you’re kind of stuck behind the eight ball because we knew we were in four-down territory because of the score of the game.”

Sarkisian’s time considerations were correct. After Ohio State’s scoop-and-score, Texas turned the ball over again just three plays into the following drive. The Longhorns never touched the ball again, with Ohio State running out the clock.

While Sarkisian accounted for the clock, he never expected Ohio State to force Ewers to fumble in the red zone.

“I was OK even if we didn’t score, not that I didn’t want score, but thinking, all right, they’re going to have to be backed up, and we’ll probably get one more possession with good field position,” Sarkisian said. “The last thing you think is the sack, and it’s going to bounce right to the guy, and he’s going to run for a touchdown.”

“So, it’s unfortunate that that was the circumstances, because it was a really nice drive by the offense to get all the way down there. First and goal on the one and we don’t score, you, quite frankly, probably don’t deserve to win that way.”