Steve Sarkisian's faith in his players was made evident in a two-play first-quarter sequence

As a play-caller, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is known for a dedication to running the ball in creative ways in a variety of situations. And that creativity was put on full display during an early two-play sequence in the Longhorns’ 49-17 win over Florida.

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Of course, creativity is great, but it’s hard to utilize it without a belief that the players on the field will be able to execute the wild movement of X’s and O’s when called. Does Sarkisian lack belief?

Not in the slightest, as a more simple play call from Saturday’s game revealed.

On their second offensive drive of the game, the Longhorns were faced with a 4th-and-1. It’s no longer uncommon for coaches to roll the dice to try to pick up first downs to extend drives. But on the minus-24 yard line? That’s pushing the limits for even the most aggressive play-callers.

But because of faith from Sarkisian in his 11 on the field, he had no qualms about the fourth-down attempt.

“I believe in our players,” Sarkisian said Saturday. “We felt good about the stuff that we had in short yardage for the game. They give me the confidence and the belief in the way they execute it in practice, so I really didn’t blink. I was going for it.”

It wasn’t just a gut feeling, either.

“Our analytical guy told me what the book had said we were supposed to do, but I was already in the mode of ‘let’s go for it,’” Sarkisian said. “We knew there was a lot of football left to be played, so we remained aggressive.”

And for the record, Sarkisian said the book said to go for it.

So Sarkisian deployed a bully-ball approach on 4th-and-1, and gave the ball to Gainesville native Jerrick Gibson. The true freshman back got the one yard needed to move the sticks.

Because his players rewarded his faith on 4th-and-1, Sarkisian decided to showcase one of the most complex rushing plays of his Texas tenure.

“Probably too much time for us as a staff when you get in there and you start going through ‘what if? What if? What if?’ Then you start going through it, then it’s like throwing mud on a wall and seeing what sticks,” Sarkisian said.

The description of this play is a tongue-twister. Twenty-one personnel with two wide receivers in Isaiah Bond and Matthew Golden, a tight end in Gunnar Helm, and two running backs with Quintrevion Wisner and Ryan Niblett.

Niblett lines up on the short side of the field almost as a wing back in a condensed formation and orbit motions to the open side of the field. Quinn Ewers snaps the football, and fakes a handoff to Niblett. He fakes again to Wisner on a GH counter play to the short side. However, the H part of that counter in Helm counters his own motion (and runs into some turbulence as Golden intentionally lets his man by) and heads back to the wide side of the field.

Ewers goes from one fake to another before finally flipping the ball to Bond, who is off to the races with a running start.

The second level of the Florida defense is stuck as they attempt to figure out where the ball is. Motion has Gators all over confused. Meanwhile, Texas players are getting into position to block pursuit players, and lead blockers, including two motion men in Helm and Niblett, are clearing the way for Bond.

Helm and Niblett, with help from Cam Williams, engage and make the critical blocks that bust open the play. Forty-four yards later, Bond steps out of bounds in Florida territory.

“We ran it in practice, and we’re like ‘wow, that looked way better than we thought it was going to work,'” Sarkisian said. “You run it, and the ball handling catches your eye, but there’s a really critical block that Matthew Golden has to make just to get it started.”

Sarkisian said that play is one of many that are designed to get his speedy skill position players in space

“We can run when we can make a guy miss or when we can block on the perimeter, and it happened a couple of times today,” Sarkisian said.

Two plays later, Ewers found Golden for the Longhorns’ opening score. Texas would never lose the lead on the way to a convincing conference win.

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And that score might not have occurred if it weren’t for the real faith he has in his players and their ability to execute both the simple and the complex.