Steve Sarkisian left no doubt after Texas’ 27-24 loss to Florida: the Longhorns are in a spot where every part of the operation is on the table.
Texas entered Saturday ranked No. 7 and still couldn’t hold off a Florida team that arrived in Austin on a two-game losing streak and starting its backup quarterback. Instead, the Gators walked out of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium with a stunned win, and Sarkisian sounded like a coach ready to tear through every layer of the problem.
"Obviously, I'm extremely disappointed," Sarkisian said. "We didn't play very good football today, outside about the first quarter. We kind of bled out."
The numbers backed up the unease. Texas ran only 50 offensive plays, its fewest since Sarkisian took over.
Arch Manning was under constant pressure, taking five sacks and managing just 68 passing yards in the first half. He finished with 173 passing yards and a touchdown, but a late fumble on a sack with 1:58 remaining became the defining play.
Florida’s Kanye Clark recovered it, and the Gators closed out the upset.
For Florida, the quarterback story was just as surprising. Tramell Jones Jr. was making his first career start against a Texas defense that came in ranked 110th nationally. He settled in and delivered 22 completions on 35 attempts for 155 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing 10 times for 41 yards.
The loss carried historical weight, too. It snapped Texas’ 22-game home winning streak against unranked teams. It also made the Longhorns just the third team in AP Poll history, since 1936, to be ranked No. 1 and then lose back-to-back games to unranked opponents, according to ESPN Research.
Sarkisian didn’t soften the message when he was asked about the direction of the offense, or whether a quarterback change had crossed his mind.
"We're not playing very good football right now," he said. "I have to evaluate everything. It's gonna be a long night."
When pressed further, he made clear that nothing is exempt from review.
"Everything means everything," he said. "It would be easy for me to say, 'Hey, Arch was the problem today.'
Was Arch perfect? No.
But nobody was perfect on offense today."
That review, Sarkisian said, includes him. He is the play-caller, and he acknowledged that his own decisions will be part of the assessment as Texas tries to fix an offense that never found a rhythm.
"I don't know how many times I need to say it," Sarkisian said. "We're going to evaluate everything from an offensive perspective. Part of that is play-calling."
Manning, meanwhile, said the late-game mistakes have become a familiar frustration. He had his third fourth-quarter turnover of the season, the most in the SEC, and he said the team’s inability to finish has been wearing on him. Sarkisian’s blunt comments did not surprise him.
"Everyone's evaluated every week," Manning said. "That's how it is when you're at a school like this with elite players. So everyone's gotta get better."
Texas also lost a key defensive piece when Colin Simmons went down with a lower-leg injury with 13:47 left in the third quarter. Simmons had already put together a strong day with eight tackles, four for loss, and a sack. He did not return, and Sarkisian said afterward he did not know the extent of the injury.
By the end, Sarkisian’s frustration spilled over into how he described the game itself.
"I don't know what we did well in the second half, quite honestly," he said. "Whether it was run or pass. We're just trying to get a first down to get started."
Florida’s win also stood out because of what had preceded it. The Gators had lost 45 straight games when trailing by at least a touchdown at halftime against a top-25 opponent, according to ESPN Research. Texas, meanwhile, suffered its largest blown lead at home against an unranked team since 1965 against Rice.
"We've got a better team than we are right now," Sarkisian said. "And it's my job to figure out how to get us to play closer to, and then ultimately to, our potential."
In Other News...
Florida Fans May See That 2024 Decommitment Wave Very Differently
Floridas 2024 recruiting cycle has taken on a different look a year later, especially when it comes to the group of prospects who backed away from their pledges. Xavier Filsaime is one of the more notable examples, with the former Gators commit now at Texas and dealing with an injury-plagued season that has kept him from making the kind of impact many expected when he was being recruited.
He is hardly alone in that regard. A review of seven top recruits from Floridas 2024 class who decommitted shows a mixed return at their new schools, with limited playing time, multiple transfers in some cases and several players still searching for a steady role. For Florida fans, the early frustration of losing those names may look a little different now, because the path away from Gainesville has not exactly produced a clean win for everyone involved. [Read more 🡒]
Floridas Texas Game Suddenly Rests On One Huge QB Decision
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Florida Just Proved It Can Still Take Down SEC Heavyweights
Floridas 27-24 win at Texas did more than just hand the Longhorns another loss, it reminded the SEC that the Gators still have the kind of upset punch that can change the conversation in a hurry. With backup quarterback Tramell Jones throwing two touchdown passes, Florida knocked off a No. 1-ranked team on the road and added a signature result to a season that now looks a lot more dangerous than it did a week ago.
The bigger takeaway for Florida is what the win says about its place in the league race. The Gators had not beaten two top-10 teams in the same season since 2012, and doing it in this setting gives the program a real benchmark under the lights. Texas, meanwhile, saw Arch Manning finish 14 of 20 for 173 yards and a touchdown, but the more telling number was the one attached to the Longhorns recent slide - two straight losses after opening the streak at No. 1. [Read more 🡒]