When the Oklahoma Sooners go to battle for a seventh straight — and possibly final — Big 12 championship, they’ll be met with challenges from Iowa State and Oklahoma State at the top of the conference. Another team that could be a thorn in the side of the Sooners is the Texas Longhorns.
Anthony Treash of Pro Football Focus claims the Steve Sarkisian-led program out of the University of Texas is one of the most underrated teams in the nation heading into 2021.
Bottom Line: Texas will creep back closer to their old ways with Sark leading the charge, but it could happen sooner rather than later if the offense maximizes its full potential. While they might not be able to hang with Oklahoma for this season, they have every opportunity to be the second-best team in the conference and exceed their projected eight-win total for the regular season. -Treash
Treash claims Sarkisian as one of the best offensive play-callers in college football. From an analytics standpoint, Sarkisian has been fantastic. Treash notes, “from 2019 to 2020, and not once did the team produce negative expected points added (EPA) per play over a game.”
EPA is a measure that takes into account down and distance and game situation to award points to plays based on the yardage to go on a given down.
With the talent level that he had to work with for the Alabama Crimson Tide, it’s no surprise that he could find a ton of success coordinating that offense. And that’s not to take anything away from him as a play-caller as his offenses have found success at previous stops as well.
And that is what Texas is banking on. Can Steve Sarkisian continue his offensive wizardry in Austin and help return the Longhorns to conference and national championship relevance.
The Oklahoma Sooners defense will get a test when they travel to Dallas to face the Longhorns in the Red River Shootout. Even as the Sooners have won five of the last six and nine of the last 12 in the matchup, they’ve mostly been close games, as most rivalry games would be.
How Alex Grinch combats Steve Sarkisian’s offense will be a huge storyline when the two teams meet up in October. For the Oklahoma Sooners to get where they want to go in 2021, they have to leave the Cotton Bowl with a win.