In gagging to Sooners, Texas shows Urban was the better choice over Sark’ | Opinion
Urban Meyer is a laughable hypocrite for whom morals in marriage, or life, is just a game of dodgeball. But at least he has his priorities in order.
When Urban Meyer coached Utah, Florida and Ohio State, he won rivalry games.
When Urban Meyer coached Florida and Ohio State, he won national titles.
When Urban Meyer-coached teams led 28-7 in big games, they didn’t blow them.
And he never allowed an opponent to win via a walkoff 33-yard touchdown run when they were trying to set up a long field goal.
What transpired on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl is the reason why so many Texas fans were disappointed when Urban Meyer turned down the opportunity to coach their Longhorns.
What transpired on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl is the reason why so many people were skeptical when Texas hired Steve Sarkisian.
On Saturday at the Cotton Bowl, Sarkisian authored a gag so ugly that even Charlie Strong could say, I know I lost to Kansas, but I never pulled THAT.
Sark’ authored a choke so uniquely historic that even Tom Herman could say, I know I embarrassed the school a lot, but we never did THAT on my watch.
Meyer has his flaws, but he never would have been ripped in half by an opposing head coach the way Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley embarrassed Sark’.
Sark’ may ultimately be a successful coach in Austin who wins big games and beats Oklahoma, but what he put together against the Sooners will not be something he’ll be able to live down until 2022. At the earliest.
Actually, “ever” feels more appropriate.
When it comes to Oklahoma, Texas doesn’t forget.
On Saturday morning, No. 21 Texas led No. 6 Oklahoma 28-7.
By Saturday afternoon, No. 6 Oklahoma had defeated No. 21 Texas, 55-48.
Texas may have changed head coaches, but when it comes to the Red River Shootout, nothing has changed.
Urban Meyer would have changed it.
Spare me your (valid) morality concerns about Urban Meyer. When it comes to big-time college football coaches who abide by the standard marital contract that matters almost as much as the team’s grade point average.
Fans only care about either when it’s convenient.
Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley and his Sooners embarrassed Sark’ and the entire state of Texas by scoring 34 second-half points to win.
With 10 seconds remaining in the game, Oklahoma running back Kennedy Brooks broke free for a 33-yard touchdown run. He looked to be trying to find a reason to go down to set up a short field goal, but running for the end zone was just too easy.
The run left three seconds on the clock.
The play effectively ended one of the most memorable games in a series that is full of memories. It would be hard to find a game any more memorable than the one played on Saturday.
Shortly after Sarkisian mismanaged the clock situation late in first half, Riley made the hard decision that changed the entire day.
He pulled incumbent starting quarterback Spencer Rattler in favor of Caleb Williams, a true freshman who did not play his 2020 high school season because of COVID-19.
The Sooners out-scored UT in the second half, 34-10.
“It was the broken plays that hurt us the most today,” Sarkisian said after the game. “Kinda improvising and flinging the ball down the field, and they caught it. They made the plays. I’d love to say the call was wrong.”
Something was wrong.
You don’t give up more than 600 yards when it’s right.
You don’t blow a 28-7 lead when things are good.
“Big picture-wise, this will test our mettle,” Sarkisian said. “We’ll find out what we’re made of.”
I thought that’s what the loss at Arkansas was supposed to do.
It was just this week that Texas fans were celebrating UT’s decision to hire Sark’ rather than Meyer, who rather than coach UT took over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Meyer recently stepped in a large pile of cow flop; rather than fly back with his team after a loss in Cincinnati, he stayed back and was caught partying at a bar with a woman who was not his wife.
As he fumbled through an awkward and bad apology, Texas fans were only too happy with a 4-1 record under Sarkisian rather than be stuck with your cliched big-time coaching sleazebag.
It’s the same guy they were all so disappointed when he said no.
Because for all of Urban Meyer’s encyclopedia of flaws and history of hypocrisy, he never would have let what happened on Saturday to go down.
That’s why Urban Meyer, not Steve Sarkisian, was the coach Texas, and its fans, always wanted.
This story was originally published October 9, 2021 at 3:50 PM.
