Steve Sarkisian choked away 99.9 percent win probability vs. Oklahoma as Texas suffers historic loss

Steve Sarkisian had the Texas Longhorns in position to demolish their rival, but the Oklahoma Sooners came back to win in thrilling fashion.

After looking like they were back and relevant once again, the Texas Longhorns completely collapsed against the Oklahoma Sooners. Steve Sarkisian got his team off to a great start against Oklahoma, but the Sooners prevailed despite UT’s 38-20 lead at halftime.

At one point in this game, the Longhorns led Oklahoma by 21 points. Early on, it sure seemed like Sarkisian’s team was going to wallop the Sooners. But that’s not what happened for the Longhorns.

Instead of going on and getting a historically dominant win over their rival, Texas crumbled and Oklahoma claimed a thrilling comeback win. This was the first time Texas led by as many as 21 points in a game and lost.

Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns squandered a massive lead against the Oklahoma Sooners

UT’s offense was phenomenal in the first half, but for whatever reason, it couldn’t keep up with the Sooners in the second half. After racking up 38 points in the first half, Texas only managed to score 10 points in the second half.

To go right along with that lack of scoring is a lack of offensive yards gained by the Longhorns. Texas gained 345 yards in the first half and then managed to only gain 183 yards in the second half.

UT needed more than that.

It’s incredible looking at the disparity in yardage between these two halves for the Longhorns. Sarkisian’s offense was unstoppable right up until halftime. After that, it couldn’t get going consistently against a fairly sporadic Sooners defense.

The Longhorns, despite having a possible Heisman contender in Bijan Robinson, became incredibly reliant upon the pass once things started tilting in OU’s favor. In the first half, Texas ran the ball 17 times and then threw the ball 16 times. But, in the second half, the Longhorns’ strategy seems to have shifted as UT threw the ball 18 times (12 times in the fourth quarter) and ran the ball just 10 times).

Oklahoma was able to figure UT’s offense out and made things difficult for the Longhorns. The Sooners were able to climb back into a game they trailed by large margins. And Lincoln Riley somehow outcoached Sarkisian in a contest that should have easily been a landmark win for the Texas head coach.

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