I know there has been a lot of discussion about it since last night. Here is what Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian said during his postgame interview:
Q. Steve [Sarkisian], on first and second down, what was the thought process behind Jerrick [Gibson] on first down and the toss to Quintrevion [Wisner] on the second?
Sarkisian: "Yeah really, the first two plays, we threw the ball into the end zone, we got back-to-back PIs. When we got down to the one, we went to a heavy package, which is Jerrick's package. We ran
it, and we obviously didn't get much movement at all. And we had a plan to try to get the ball on the edge when we got down there. They went to big people. I can't quite tell -- It was on the far side of where it got leaky. But that's one of those plays, if you block it all right, you get in the end zone, and we didn't, and we lose quite a bit of yardage. And at that point, you're kind of stuck behind the eight ball because we knew we were in four-down territory because of the score of the game.
"And I was okay even if we didn't score, not that I didn't want score, but thinking, all right, they're going to have to be backed up, and we'll probably get one more possession with good field
posi on. The last thing you think is the sack, and it's going to bounce right to the guy, and he's going to run for a touchdown. So, it's unfortunate that that was the circumstances because it was a really nice drive by the offense to get all the way down there. First and goal on the one and we don't score, you, quite frankly, probably don't deserve to win that way."
Here was my question to Sarkisian: "Coach, you guys tied it up at 7-7. You just decided to bring a little bit of pressure, and then they busted for a touchdown. What was the thought process on bringing pressure at that point?
Sarkisian: "It really was a simulated pressure. It was not like we were trying to blitz and blitz them. We were still seven guys in coverage. They called the screen, they blocked it well, and they got it in the hands of a really good playmaker. [TreVeyon] Henderson's got real speed, and they blocked it well. We were always concerned about him when he got into the open field. So it wasn't like we were bringing five or six. It was a four-man rush.
"Good call by them, good execution. It's unfortunate that they hit the screen. I think there was maybe 24 seconds or something to go in the half. I don't think anybody was anGcipaGng that.
Definitely stole some momentum. But that's why I was so proud of our guys to bounce back the way that they did in the third quarter."
Q. Steve [Sarkisian], on first and second down, what was the thought process behind Jerrick [Gibson] on first down and the toss to Quintrevion [Wisner] on the second?
Sarkisian: "Yeah really, the first two plays, we threw the ball into the end zone, we got back-to-back PIs. When we got down to the one, we went to a heavy package, which is Jerrick's package. We ran
it, and we obviously didn't get much movement at all. And we had a plan to try to get the ball on the edge when we got down there. They went to big people. I can't quite tell -- It was on the far side of where it got leaky. But that's one of those plays, if you block it all right, you get in the end zone, and we didn't, and we lose quite a bit of yardage. And at that point, you're kind of stuck behind the eight ball because we knew we were in four-down territory because of the score of the game.
"And I was okay even if we didn't score, not that I didn't want score, but thinking, all right, they're going to have to be backed up, and we'll probably get one more possession with good field
posi on. The last thing you think is the sack, and it's going to bounce right to the guy, and he's going to run for a touchdown. So, it's unfortunate that that was the circumstances because it was a really nice drive by the offense to get all the way down there. First and goal on the one and we don't score, you, quite frankly, probably don't deserve to win that way."
Here was my question to Sarkisian: "Coach, you guys tied it up at 7-7. You just decided to bring a little bit of pressure, and then they busted for a touchdown. What was the thought process on bringing pressure at that point?
Sarkisian: "It really was a simulated pressure. It was not like we were trying to blitz and blitz them. We were still seven guys in coverage. They called the screen, they blocked it well, and they got it in the hands of a really good playmaker. [TreVeyon] Henderson's got real speed, and they blocked it well. We were always concerned about him when he got into the open field. So it wasn't like we were bringing five or six. It was a four-man rush.
"Good call by them, good execution. It's unfortunate that they hit the screen. I think there was maybe 24 seconds or something to go in the half. I don't think anybody was anGcipaGng that.
Definitely stole some momentum. But that's why I was so proud of our guys to bounce back the way that they did in the third quarter."
