Steve Sarkisian’s anger gets the best of him and it helps Texas football blow out Florida in DKR
No. 5 Texas comes roaring to life after critical fourth-and-1 deep in UT territory that was a huge Sarkisian gamble
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian admitted this week the Longhorns didn’t play their best against Georgia and Vanderbilt. “That’s OK. We’re going to be all right,” he promised.
On the opening drive Saturday against Florida, the coach who prides himself on keeping his composure couldn’t keep it in.
The Horns were forced to call timeout, and Sarkisian covered his face before letting loose a long string of words in excitable fashion. Odds are they weren’t printable.
Sarkisian’s angry outburst sure lit a fire. The Horns ignited and scored 35 points in brute-force fashion before halftime as the Gators simply got steamrolled 49-17. The WWE’s Undertaker even showed up to preside over the burial as Quinn Ewers threw five touchdown passes.
WATCH AND SUBSCRIBE: Follow A to Z Sports’ Texas Longhorns channel on YouTube.
No. 5 Texas (8-1, 4-1 SEC) kickstarted its critical November stretch run with a much-needed blowout. Ironically, Florida played Texas on adjacent Clark Field in 1924 as construction was underway on what would become Royal-Memorial Stadium. The Gators (4-5, 2-4) got chomped on the same field that celebrated its 100th birthday on Friday.
It was one of those blowouts where ABC was filling airtime with talk about the College Football Playoffs and “The Golden Bachelorette.” Backup quarterback Arch Manning also played most of the second half.
All of this was made possible by what happened early on the Texas sideline. Give Sarkisian full credit for grabbing his own team by the shoulder pads and giving them a good shake.
After the angry, botched timeout, Sarkisian watched Texas’ first drive end with a sack and a missed 51-yard field goal. The second drive started with a potential 85-yard touchdown connection from Ewers to Isaiah Bond. The defender fell down, but the pass went incomplete. A second-down pass was batted down, and a busted run set up fourth-and-1 from the Texas 24.
Emotions may have gotten the better of him, but Sarkisian went for it anyway. Jerrick Gibson got the mark on a second surge, and Sarkisian had seen enough. The next play, the coach called for an end-around play and Bond raced for 44 yards. Two plays later, Ewers unleashed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Golden.
After a Florida turnover deep in its end, Ewers hit Gunnar Helm on a quick-strike throw down the seam for a 22-yard score.
In the second quarter, Sarkisian’s play design had everyone looking right and Ewers threw to his left. Quintrevion Wisner took a short pass and went 50 yards for a score.
Ewers tried multiple deep balls to DeAndre Moore Jr. Two were dropped and one was overthrown. But Ewers kept chucking it. He hit Matthew Golden for a 32-yard touchdown and found Silas Bolden (20 yards) and Jaydon Blue (20 yards) to set up another score just before halftime.
Leading 35-0 at the break, Texas had this one in the bag. The Gators got 17 points afterward, but the Horns finished with more than 210 rushing yards and put it away with two more scores.
