Steve Sarkisian explains what he learned from Texas losing streak

Steve Sarkisian’s first year as Texas’ head football coach went poorly, but at least the Longhorns were able to end it on a high note.

Texas found itself ending the season with fewer than six wins, going 5-7 for the first time since 2016, Charlie Strong’s last year at the helm. Moreover, the Longhorns are not eligible for a bowl game for the first time since then. However, Texas was able to make amends — at least somewhat — in Friday’s 22-17 win over Kansas State. Sarkisian’s team battled back from a deficit, trailing 17-16 at halftime, by scoring two second-half field goals and holding Kansas State scoreless. In the process, the Longhorns broke a tumultuous six-game losing streak, during which Texas lost its AP Top 25 distinction.

“I think we needed to snap that losing streak,” Sarkisian said after Texas’ win. “It was heavy. It was heavy, it was a lot on everybody in the organization, from the top down.”

Texas’ losing streak saw the Longhorns blow some incredible leads, too. First, against Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown, Sarkisian watched Texas blow a 28-7 first-half deficit, the second-largest comeback in Oklahoma program history. Perhaps even worse is that Texas lost three-straight against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor in heartbreaking fashion, as the Longhorns blew a double-digit second-half lead in each contest.

“As gut-wrenching as some of those games were, and for whatever reason why we lost those leads and couldn’t sustain — I think for our psyche in general, we needed to kind of prove it to ourselves that we could finish a game in the fourth quarter again,” Sarkisian said. “So, from that aspect of it, I think it was big.”

Texas was able to do just that, building on a slow first-half performance with a strong defensive effort when it mattered most. Thanks to a couple second-half field goals from Cameron Dicker, Sarkisian finally snapped the skid.

“Because of the losing streak, I was able to get a lot of clarity on a lot of things that are issues in our program that we need to get better at, that we need to improve upon,” Sarkisian said. “So, yes, this is a good moment and a great moment for us now and I think something that we needed going into the offseason to know that we are capable of doing. But there’s still plenty, plenty for us to work on here as we move forward.”