AUSTIN, Texas - For much of Saturday night, it looked like Steve Sarkisian was headed for another round of hard questions and familiar doubt.
Texas was buried in a 20-3 halftime hole against No. 1 Ohio State, and the Longhorns had already spent too much of the game looking like a team out of sync on one of the biggest stages in college football.
Then the script flipped. Arch Manning and Texas scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns, and the No.
4 Longhorns stunned the Buckeyes 24-23 in a comeback that will linger in Austin.
Sarkisian said the win felt different because of the opponent and the way Texas fought back.
“Is this the biggest win? I don’t know.
We’ve had some great ones. We’ve had some really big moments, but this one is special,” Sarkisian said.
“You know, when you beat the No. 1 team in the country in the fashion that we did, to come back the way that we did, to represent Longhorn Nation, to represent the name on our chest, Texas, I think it means a lot.”
The turnaround was rooted in a second-half message Sarkisian delivered after a rough opening 30 minutes. Texas had turned it over twice in its first five plays, and a late-second-quarter gamble backfired badly when an end around to Ryan Wingo was stuffed for a 10-yard loss on fourth-and-1 from the Ohio State 41 with 54 seconds left before halftime. A few snaps later, Julian Sayin hit Jeremiah Smith for a touchdown, and the stadium mood turned flat.
Sarkisian owned the decision afterward.
“I still will. Our fans won’t let me forget that. Nor will these guys that cover me every day,” Sarkisian said, drawing a few laughs.
Even with Ohio State pushing the lead to 23-3 in the third quarter, Texas never stopped attacking. Sarkisian kept leaning into the same aggressiveness that has defined him, and the Longhorns finally found traction with a 15-play, 91-yard touchdown drive. Manning converted a fourth-and-9 with a throw to Emaree Winston, then later found Wingo for a 3-yard touchdown pass to cut deeper into the deficit.
“I’m aggressive by nature,” Sarkisian said. “I think there’s a sense of confidence from the players to know, hey, if I believe in them to execute a play, I’m going to call the play. I believe in our players.”
That belief carried Texas through the game’s biggest pressure points. Facing fourth-and-6 from its own 32 with 11:32 left, Sarkisian didn’t back off. Manning delivered a 12-yard completion to Emmett Mosley V, and the drive stayed alive long enough for Hollywood Smothers to finish it with a short touchdown run.
Sarkisian didn’t stop there. The final touchdown march covered 73 yards in 12 plays, and Smothers capped it with a 1-yard score with 25 seconds left.
“They didn’t hire me to keep it close,” Sarkisian said. “They hired me to win.”
The numbers told the story of a Texas offense that finally finished the job in the red zone. The Longhorns scored touchdowns on all four trips inside the Ohio State 20, and all three of their fourth-quarter touchdowns came from inside the 5. That was a sharp break from the issues that have dogged Sarkisian’s offenses before.
“You know, it’s been a little bit of a thorn in our side … that was gratifying, because we’ve worked really hard at the run game, we worked really hard at having those attitude, physical-type plays and the mentality, and I thought it showed tonight,” Sarkisian said.
The comeback also gave Texas something it had not had in a long time: its first home win over a No. 1 team in 76 years. Sarkisian was quick to frame it as a single result, not a finish line, with SEC play still waiting.
Manning echoed that view, saying the victory reflected what Sarkisian has built.
“I think it says a lot about Coach Sark and what he’s built here, and I think when you don’t play well and you still go to win, there’s a lot to learn from and it’s confidence moving,” Manning said.
Sarkisian’s own path helps explain the composure. He learned under Pete Carroll at USC, where second-half surges were part of the culture and response mattered more than the mistake. That influence showed up again Saturday, when Texas absorbed a miserable first half and came out swinging.
A couple of hours after the game, Sarkisian and his wife, Loreal, stood on the second deck behind the end zone and looked out over a nearly empty stadium. For one night, at least, the scrutiny that usually follows him had quieted down.
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