Texas running back Jaydon Blue was one of the Longhorns’ team captains Saturday against Mississippi State. He’d earned that honor to represent UT in its SEC debut through hard work and leadership.

But Texas coach Steve Sarkisian did what every coach must do after Blue had two fumbles in a 35-13 win. He sat Blue down and had Quintrevion Wisner finish the game.

Blue finished with 36 yards on six carries. The running game was struggling and late in the first half, Texas had minus-1 yard rushing. Wisner finished with 88 yards on 13 attempts as the Horns tallied 198 yards rushing overall.

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Afterward, Sarkisian gave a passionate defense of Blue’s total contributions and how the junior from Houston will remain a key figure in the Longhorns’ season.

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“Jaydon’s a great teammate,” Sarkisian said. “Shoot, he was a captain today for us, had a phenomenal game last week. Today, the ball got put on the ground.

“Again, I’m as concerned about the psyche of a player as anything. That was why we went with (Wisner) in the second half after that. But I’m going to call Jaydon tonight, and the whole thing is, we’re going to need Jaydon Blue this season, OK?

“That’s why they call us coach, and that’s why (running backs coach Tashard) Choice and myself, we’ve got to get back to work and figure out if it was fundamental or technique issue of why the ball is on the ground or if it was in the wrong arm,” Sarkisian added.

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“We’re going to look at all that stuff and say, OK, how are we going to fix it. Give him the why and then the how, and then work on that through the bye week and get him back ready to go, because he’s too good of a player for us. He’s too good of a teammate, and like I said, we’re going to need him to play at a high level for us to try to accomplish the things that we want to accomplish this season.”

For his part, Blue was a true stand-up player and acted every bit like a team captain. Most players who had a bad game would shy away from reporters afterward. Not Blue. He came to the media room to face questions.

“Everybody was just telling me to keep my head up, of course, because they know they need me in the long run,” Blue said.

Teammates will continue to pump up Blue’s confidence, just as the coaching staff will. It is a long season, after all, and the Horns cannot afford to lose another running back.

Odds are Blue will hang in there and bounce back.

“I know that the team will need me,” Blue said. “After the second fumble, it’s hard for me, of course, because I don’t like putting the ball on the ground. Nobody does, but other than that, they were just keeping me up and making sure that my head was still up.”