LIVE UPDATES: Steve Sarkisian recaps loss to Oklahoma, program status entering bye week

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will be available to the media today at or after 11 a.m. to recap the Longhorns’ 34-30 loss to Oklahoma and discuss what the next step for his program is entering the bye week.

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The press conference will be aired on Longhorn Network and also be available on TexasSports.com

Updates from Steve Sarkisian

Steve Sarkisian starts by recapping some of the issues that Texas had and harps on penalties, turnovers, and red zone issues.

Steve Sarkisian: “Our ability to move the ball wasn’t in question but our ability to put the ball in the end zone was. Conversely, they have six trips into the red area and they score 34 points. Just look at it that way and do the math, that was an issue.”

Steve Sarkisian said his end of half and end of game defense was also an issue.

Steve Sarkisian compliments Bert Auburn, as well as Kitan Crawford and Malik Muhammad for the blocked punt.

Steve Sarkisian says on the final play, they had a pressure called that wasn’t executed correctly. He mentioned they didn’t have the right coverage and also had two players run into the same gap.

Steve Sarkisian: “We are a little bit banged up as a football team, which is understandable. I think everybody is at this point in the football season.”

Steve Sarkisian: “I think we need to create more turnovers from the defensive perspective. We’re not causing enough fumbles right now. We want to improve upon that. We definitely want to improve our red zone offense. We’ve already started working on that as a staff.” — Also identifies two-minute defense and the return game.

Steve Sarkisian says the safety depth has helped his team this year. “The experience that Jerrin Thompson provides is helpful. The knowledge base that Michael Taaffe has is really helpful. Where Kitan Crawford has grown into I think has been good. I think Catalon, what he brings from a physicality standpoint has been good. I think Derek Williams’ future is so bright.”

Steve Sarkisian said that Jalen Catalon is currently day to day.

Steve Sarkisian: “We went into the season with the goal to be champions and those goals still remain a reality.”

Steve Sarkisian on Oklahoma’s last drive, says the first play was a missed tackle on the sidelines. The second play was a miscommunication on the back end where safeties were playing a different coverage from the rest of the defense. — “Pass interference is pass interference. We could argue it was or it wasn’t.” — “In the end, they’re scrambling a little bit. There’s 15 seconds on the clock. We felt like we had a great call and we didn’t execute it. That part was probably the most disappointing thing.”

Steve Sarkisian says his staff has watched and studied red zone from a variety of perspectives. “I feel very comfortable in the fact we’ll have a good plan for the second half of the season for the players, because like I told the staff we’re moving the ball too well offensively right now not to have more points on the board.”

Steve Sarkisian say’s he’ll know more about the availability for Jake Majors and Ryan Watts next Monday ahead of Houston.

Steve Sarkisian says Connor Robertson “in his first real action in that setting, did a nice job. I’m sure there’s plays he’d love to do a little bit better and he had one flinch of the ball, but in that setting, especially in some of those times when we were backed up in their end with the crowd noise, his snaps were good. I thought he communicated relatively well at the line of scrimmage.”

Steve Sarkisian on the four tries from the one-yard line: “It sucked.” — “I don’t think it was toughness at all. The first down play, their kid makes a really nice play. He shoots the gap and gets into Jonathon Brooks’ legs.” — Says on second down his team didn’t get enough of the EDGE, and then on third down he would have ran a different play. He explains he likely would have used the fourth down playcall on third down if he had a chance to do it again.

Steve Sarkisian says the team had a recap of the game today and a look at what they need to do moving forward prior to a lift/stretch period. They’ll practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday with an emphasis on second and third stringers. First stringers will work on some of the issues Sarkisian addressed. The staff will recruit Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before arriving Sunday and practicing like a typical game week ahead of Houston.

Steve Sarkisian mentioned the running back and tight ends first when asked about positions that have come the furthest since the beginning of the season.

Steve Sarkisian says his run game defense has been impressive but “we’ve got to clean up our pass-rush lanes. The quarterback’s legs hurt us Saturday.”

Steve Sarkisian on Anthony Hill, Derek Williams, and Malik Muhammad: “I think all three of those guys are right there on the cusp of being frontline guys for us. Derek, the last three games, he’s had a lot of snaps.” — “(Williams) got a high football IQ. He cares. He wants to be a great player and in my mind he’s going to be a great player for us.”

Steve Sarkisian says he believes he should have played Johntay Cook more on Saturday. “He’s probably the main one. DeAndre Moore is probably close right there, too.”

Steve Sarkisian on Jonathon Brooks: “He was always a really smooth runner in high school. Coach (Stan) Drayton had recruited him and Brandon Harris had done a really good job with him. They were really, really excited and they thought ‘we got one with this kid.'” — “He sat behind two guys and really paid attention and listened and learned. His style of play now has grown as the season has gone on. He’s a physical runner. We know we can count on him at the most difficult moments, and that he’s going to run throw.”

Steve Sarkisian said they were trying to ensure they had the last possession of the game but also that they needed to at least get a field goal out of the situation. “I wouldn’t have changed a thing as it pertains to that drive.”

Steve Sarkisian says he hopes his team “carr(ies) this one with us for a little bit and fuels us to be a little bit better moving forward.”