11/11/2023 Texas – TCU
TLSN’s Larry Carlson is in his 36th year of teaching news and sports media at Texas State University. He is a member of The Football Writers Association of America.
FORT WORTH — I’m typing this at just a few ticks before midnight in the Dan Jenkins Press Box at Amon Carter Stadium.
We just left the interview room downstairs. Texas had blown another big fourth quarter lead, and continues to live precariously at the slippery edge of College Football Playoff contention. A hairy, scary 29-26 win over a TCU team that came in at 4-5 won’t get any style points for Texas. But a familiar note was sounded in the post-game presser with Steve Sarkisian, who tooted the Horns’ horns by praising his team’s “heart and resiliency.” Again.
Sark even admitted that he might sound “like a broken record,” which likely wouldn’t mean anything to the digital young, coming from the analog generation. But it was aimed at the media, and I believe everyone understood.
Translation: Texas won again. Barely. The Longhorns, despite frequently letting “safe” leads quickly dissolve into harrowing getaways, are 9-1, the best ten-game record for UT since 2009. And that’s major progress.
Winning “these kind of games,” according to Sark, “is what championship teams do.”
It just didn’t have to be this tough. Texas played very solid football through three quarters, leading the Horned Frogs, 26-6.
All night, Texas made plays. But they also made mistakes with costly penalties and raggedy tackling in the secondary.
The theme played out like a practiced routine. Texas could run the ball with Jonathan Brooks, a marvelous player who was injured in the fourth quarter and whose diagnosis was unclear after the game (Sark said he’d know more, tell more on Monday).
But Texas still could not punch in all its red zone opportunities, still left points a’ wastin’ when they had to settle for field goals or watched drives fizzle into turnovers on downs.
The UT defense continued to rampage against the run, stuffing try after try from the guys in purple pajamas. But when you stuff the run, the opponents are gonna pass, and they’re gonna complete some. “And that’s okay,” Sark said, then conceded
the downside to completions that lead to sloppy attempts at arm-tackling. “But you’ve gotta get ’em on the ground,” the third-year Texas coach emphasized.
Said All-Conference LB Jaylan Ford in the loud, construction-area media room, “Just gotta be better. Honestly, just gotta
learn from it.”
Besides the relief felt from Texas fans when the Horns converted a desperate third-and-12 deep in UT territory, Longhorn Nation was reminded that even the gutsy play call probably woudn’t have happened a week ago. But thanks to the presence of a healing Quinn Ewers and the always excellent Adonai Mitchell, the magical Houdini-esque slip-away act was pulled off again.
After the game, Mitchell saluted the QB who missed UT’s last two games with a sprained shoulder. “I’m not gonna lie. That guy is a dawg. He is a straight soldier.”
I’m confident that Quinn could and would say the same about the tall, talented receiver. In addition to the game-sealer, made as he was balletically falling down, the Georgia transfer made a diving catch for a TD with a scant minute remaining in the first half, and also speared a crucial 20-yard toss to keep another drive alive.
“These guys believe we’re gonna make the play we need to make when we need it,” Sarkisian summed up.
Chapter nine in the book of Sark. Two regular season games to go and hopefully not to blow. And if Texas can win those, at Iowa State on Saturday and again at home against Texas Tech on the night after Thanksgiving, these Horns will play for the Big XII title, en route to the SEC.
The Longhorns didn’t get any help today outside Fort Worth. Miami and Utah flirted with wrecking FSU and Washington, respectively. But it didn’t happen. So Texas, right now, looks to be on the outside looking in at the CFP’s last four standing.
But you can’t count out a team that keeps on perfecting its Harry Houdini act. You can’t.
