Kirk Herbstreit said he wasn’t second-guessing Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian about one fourth-quarter play call, but it sure sounded like it.
And the ESPN analyst wasn’t alone after the Longhorns came up short in a 28-14 loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinals that cost Texas a chance to play for the national championship.
The play in question came on a second-and-goal from the one-yard line with just over three minutes left in the fourth quarter and Texas trailing by a touchdown.
After Jerrick Gibson was stopped for no gain on a rush attempt on a first and goal from the one, Sarkisian went to a pitch play to running Quintrevion Wisner, who was tackled for a 7-yard loss.
Following an incomplete pass by Quinn Ewers, Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer strip-sacked Ewers and ran it back for a game-clinching 83-yard score.
Asked about the ill-fated pitch after the game, Herbrstreit — who called the game on ESPN — noted that the Longhorns should have considered using Arch Manning in the short-yardage situation, as they had earlier in the game.
“I’m not ever going to second guess any head coach, especially a guy like [Sarkisian], who works so hard at that,’’ Herbrstreit said. “But I thought you might see the wrinkle [of] Arch come in in that situation, with his ability to run. Maybe a zone read, maybe get him on the edge. Again, I’m not going to second-guess him, but that wide sweep with Ohio State’s defense, as fast-flowing as they are led by Caleb Downs, that was a tough one to go to. They tried to catch them napping and didn’t get it.”
Sarkisian stood by his decisions after the game.
“When we got down to the one, we went to a heavy package, which is Jerrick’s package,’’ Sarkisian said. “We ran it, and we obviously didn’t get much movement at all. And 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 [the pitch is] 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.”
Sarkisian said the play left Texas “kind of stuck behind the eight ball, because we knew we were in four-down territory because of the score of the game.”
The coach added he was “OK even if we didn’t score — not that I didn’t want to 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.’ 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.”
Manning, the nephew of Eli and Peyton, and in line to become Texas’ starting quarterback next year if Ewers enters the NFL draft, he made a key play to extend a drive in the second quarter, which led to the Longhorns’ first score.
Held without a point for most of the first half, Texas finally scored with 29 seconds left in the second quarter, aided by Manning’s quarterback keeper on a fourth-down play.
With the ball at midfield and one yard to gain for a new set of downs, Manning replaced Ewers and took a designed quarterback keeper to the far side of the field for eight yards and a fresh set of downs.
Ewers then re-entered, completed two of his next three passes, the latter of which went for an 18-yard touchdown to Jaydon Blue, to tie the game at 7-7.
We will never know what would have happen if Sarkisian had called Manning number in the fourth quarter, too.