Steve Sarkisian: 'Self Inflicted Wounds' Doomed Longhorns Against Red Raiders

Sarkisian discussed the loss to the Red Raiders and Texas' self inflicted mistakes.

In year two under coach Steve Sarkisian for the Texas Longhorns, there have been signs of improvement from where they were a year ago, namely in their near upset of the Alabama Crimson Tide. 

However, despite that apparent improvement, they appear to have taken one step forward and three steps back following their 37-34 overtime loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday. 

At one point the Longhorns held a 31-17 lead in the second half with all the momentum seemingly in their favor. They would go on to lose that lead, though, as Sarkisian believes they played well but had too many crucial mistakes to overcome. 

“I think how I felt after the game held true when I watched the tape," Sarkisian said. "We made too many self-inflicted wounds."

"Too many errors on our part to ultimately put ourselves in a position not to win the game. It wasn’t for lack of effort. We played hard. We didn’t play very smart.” 

While running back Bijan Robinson's fumble on the first play of overtime received the headlines following the loss, it was far from the sole reason the Longhorns choked away the lead. 

A sloppy fourth quarter filled with stalled offensive drives and an inability to get off the field on defense doomed the Longhorns long before Robinson coughed up the ball in overtime. 

Simply put, this game should not have come anywhere near overtime, which is the biggest indictment from Saturday. The pieces are there for the Longhorns under Sarkisian, and they have shown flashes of putting it all together. 

Maybe it really is as simple as getting quarterback Quinn Ewers back in the coming weeks. However, regardless of how good Ewers plays, if these same self-inflicted wounds continue to crop up, it will be another long season for Sarkisian and the Longhorns. 

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You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98

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