Texas football’s Steve Sarkisian defends taking field goal off the board vs. Mississippi State

AUSTIN - At one point Saturday night, University of Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian voluntarily took three points off the board against Mississippi State.

In that moment early in the third quarter of a 35-13 win over the Bulldogs , it seemed, at best, curious, and at worst, inconceivable. It certainly would have seemed a lot worse had the Longhorns not been mostly in control all night, but no matter.

When the topic was broached with Sarkisian postgame, it all started to make sense.

Texas faced third-and-17 from the Bulldogs' 40-yard line with 11:03 to play in the third. Before that play, Sarkisian, who acts as the Longhorns' play caller, told himself that if the next play was fourth-and-3 or better, they were going for it inside plus territory.

On the third-down play, Arch Manning hit tight end Gunnar Helm for nine yards over the middle, setting up fourth-and-8. Bert Auburn then doinked in a 49-yard field goal for a 17-6 lead, but Mississippi State was flagged for a five-yard offsides penalty.

If Sarkisian accepted the five-yard penalty, it would have taken the field goal off the board, and set up exactly the scenario in which he originally said he would go for it, fourth-and-3.

"I always say if I could play Monday morning quarterback like you guys do, I would have left the three points on the board, but I don't get to do that," Sarkisian said. "I have to make real-time decisions."

Sarkisian's real-time decision was to go back to what he originally intended, so he took Auburn's field goal off the board, and went for it fourth-and-3 from the Mississippi State 31.

On that fourth-and-3 play, Manning did not throw a great ball to the right, which was intended for wide receiver Isaiah Bond. The pass fell incomplete, Texas turned the ball over on downs, and the Monday morning quarterbacks were left to second-guess that lone Sarkisian decision on a night where his offense racked up 522 yards, including 324 through the air from Manning.

"You leave three points on the board, maybe that changes a little of the complexion of the game," Sarkisian said. "The execution, I thought they played what we were running pretty good. We got the look we wanted, they played it pretty good. I wish Arch could have maybe given Isaiah a little better throw. It was going to be a really tough catch for him, but that's human nature.

"Sometimes, the throw is not perfect, the catch isn't great, and it falls incomplete, but I'm never gonna apologize for us trying to stay aggressive, because our players appreciate us being aggressive. It wasn't us going rogue, it was something that we believed in that, hey, this was the number of where we were going to go, and that number came up, and so we went for it."