Sarks Spooky Stat

It's actually disturbing, but spooky fits the holiday.

I was listening to The Horn on the way home from work and this stat was discussed.

All of FBS teams win a combined 80% of the time when winning at the half. Seems hard to believe, but that's the number.

At Texas Sark wins 57% of the time. They said looking at his career this is a new problem. With all the elite talent on the team what the heck is going on?

 

That is alarming as well as Statyzer’s work….The Sark hire was a “show me hire” for me to begin with. He hadn’t won as a previous head coach and was just another Bama OC. Doesn’t really matter who they have-they are going to score points.
Recent exhibit: Bill O’Brian.
From last year’s debacle, a dead spring game and so far this season, I’m not that impressed.
What improvements I have seen are Defense, Physicality, Downfield blocking, Offensive Line and Hudson Card but apparently it’s not enough to beat Tech and Okie State.
Right now this team is looking at 7-5 at best which doesn’t cut it here or anywhere else.
If you are 500 after two years at Texas, that isn’t getting done. If he goes 0-4 or 1-3 in the next 4 games , he should be nuked. I.don’t see him surviving long enough to make it to the SEC.
Patterson is in the wings but for how long??

 

It is just like the Tom Herman hire, we are getting exactly what should have been expected from Sark based on his past history. Like Tom Herman winning the big games but losing to teams he shouldn't. Sark has never been a winner.

 

Sark has moments of brilliance, even entire games. I just can’t figure him out.

 

He’s brilliant at scripting plays.
When he had to go off script he is terrible and he can’t make adjustments.

this guy is a football analyst. Not a football coach

 

Sadly, most of the criticism and second-guessing of Sarkisian is justified. I love the guy, and his character and recruiting prowess is unquestionable. However, his inability to adjust after the first 30 minutes is not just surprising. It’s shocking.

In 2021, I assumed that a big part of the issue was talent, conditioning, and questionable defensive coaching and scheming. My assessment has changed. It’s clearly not a talent issue, and it is really not a defensive issue.

Plain and simple, Sark has been unable to make adjustments at halftime. More importantly, he has been unable to respond to adjustments made by the other team, after the half. Until he learns to make such adjustments, he will be a mediocre coach, and probably unable to achieve the level of success we all seek at Texas.

 

I have lowered my expectations concerning Sark. I have gone from about a 9 to a 5.
He seems too one track minded and doesn'tthink outside the box. Not pulling Ewers case in point.
love his recruiting prowess and demeanor but that's about it.

 

57% was also his career winning percentage as a head coach before he came to Texas (46-35).

57% was also Texas' record after 2009 before we got Sark, which is why I suspected we were making a lateral move.

Then again, 57% was also DKR's career winning percentage before he got to Texas, but that was also 70 years ago.

 

The defense failed this team miserably against Ok St. and hints of it showed up in the Iowa St. game. 34 points was plenty to win this game. And for all those that say the offense has some blame, bs, I agree they left some on the table but Ewers still had 319 yds. The offense still scored 34 points, over 200 yards rushing!! 200 yards rushing in and of its self is enough to win any game. Over 500 yards total offense!! That’s plenty to beat any team in the country. If your defense can’t get you a win with that production on offense then you deserve to lose. I admit Ewers looked horrible, I’ve never seen a college QB look so inept and the offensive missed opportunities were very frustrating to watch but the offense still did enough to win. The offense ranks 35th in the country btw. Secondary on the other had........

Comparative stats:
Bryce young 213 yds passing
Dekkers (Back up Iowa st qb) 329 yards!!
Spencer sanders 391 yds!! (With two receivers out of the game)

There is no way, OSU and a back up QB at Iowa St. are better than Alabama's offense.

I was willing to hold off judgment on this defense for awhile but the stats are starting to develop against them. This defense is still underperforming by a long shot, specifically the secondary.

In fact, I don't think it's fair to lump the DL into the group, they could get more pressure but rushing defense is ranked 34th in the nation. That is an improvement over any defense we've had in over 10 years. But the secondary is horrendous. 92nd in the nation out of 131 teams, not only can they not cover, they can't tackle. Having said that, Jerrin Thompson was a bright spot, he had at least two pass break ups, was in perfect position, and he plays the run well. I know Cook went out with an injury.

Ultimately it's Sark's responsibility, the offense, Special Teams and Run defense are of high caliber and capable of winning every single game. He just needs to figure out the secondary and this team will start blowing teams out of the water.

 

Sark officially on hot seat. PK gone after this season - maybe sooner. Assume GP takes over defense. This should buy Sark one more year, but writing will be on the wall, so significant attrition via the portal and decommits from the 23 class, could be imminent.

 

Harbaugh? It took him awhile at Michigan.

 

I disagree that Sark should be on the hot seat, the offense for the most part is phenomenal. Quinn Ewers next year is going to be unstoppable under Sark. Unstoppable. And Arch could be too. Special teams is dang good. Only weakness is the secondary. I’ll be concerned about the DL next year with so much attrition, entire defense could be a problem if the DL drops off. Guess we will see.
Need to figure out how to get these corners to play the game for 60 minutes. We steam roll anyone if the secondary performs.

 

It took him a while to get past Ohio State but they were contenders against everyone else right away. Before him they went 8-5, 7-6, 5-7 and with him there they immediately went 10-3, 10-3, 8-5, 10-3.

It doesn't feel like we played well enough to score 34 even given our yardage total, but then special teams did give us the ball at midfield or nearer 4 times, with two long returns, the blocked punt, and the inconclusive replay after it may have grazed their returner's shin.

 

I heard Joel Klatt talk about this on his show maybe two years ago, but adjustments aren't just something that happen at halftime. They're literally on a play-by-play and series-by-series tick.

I think a good example from last Saturday was how OK State did just enough to not let Bijan's and Roschon's runs affect the final outcome. They did a good job making us uncomfortable whenever the backs didn't pick up a first down, and sometimes they did it immediately after a good run. I don't think that takes a halftime talking-to.

And it's unfortunate that Sark doesn't seem to understand the power of a defensive stop. I don't think that's adjustment-based... I think it's a "defense is not my problem" problem.

 

Couldn’t disagree more. We scored 3 points in the 2nd half last Saturday. We had something like 4 consecutive 3 and outs. Such ineptitude places enormous pressure on the defense.

It’s a pattern. At some point even the best defenses break.

 

I gave statistics for my reasoning and that still doesn’t explain the poor secondary performance against Iowa St., had their receiver not dropped the ball when he was WIDE open we would have lost that one too.

 

Let me elaborate on our 2nd half offensive ineptitude Saturday. Here are our drives:

3rd Quarter:

3 Plays - 4 Yards
3 - 0
4 - 27
4 - 5
3 - 0

4th Quarter:

4 - 13
8 - 50 Missed FG
5 - 15
8 - 36 Int

Not sure how anyone can pin the loss on the defense.

 

I pinned it on them cause I don’t believe Ok St offense is better than Alabama’s (20 vs. 41 points) and the offense put more points on Ok St.‘s defense like they were supposed to (34 vs. 19)

one clearly underperformed not only in stats but straight up points, I’m not sure how anyone doesn’t see that?

 

This isn’t a gut feeling, it’s backed up by clear data points.

fwiw, the offense clearly **** the bed in the second half. I agree with that. Defense wins championships. Defense (specifically the secondary) keeps thinking Quinn Ewers is going to bail them out so they play at 65-70%, and he would have had he had a normal day…..but he didn’t.

 

Witness the 1984 Cotton Bowl.

 

The only stat I care about is the final score.
You either win or you don’t.
Somebody best hurry up and figure out the winning part real soon.

 

If only we could play the second half first.