‘Human error’ contributed to special teams lows for Texas vs. Ole Miss

AUSTIN — Steve Sarkisian doesn’t have a magic wand to fix the special teams issues that consistently plague his Texas Longhorns.

Neither does special teams coordinator Jeff Banks, clearly.

After No. 19 Texas beat No. 7 Ole Miss 34-27 in Austin on Saturday despite multiple special teams mishaps, once again, including a successful fake punt and successful onside kick by the Rebels, anyone in possession of a magic wand to fix the special teams issues should deliver it to the team’s football facility.

Sarkisian blamed the two major miscues on human error.

“I don’t know if there’s, like, fix special teams,” Sarkisian said. “We didn’t set the edge on a punt return and we didn’t field the ball on an onside kick. It wasn’t like they had a free runner and they just got the ball, but we dropped it twice and they got it. That’s human error.”

The fake punt came at a critical moment of the second quarter when Texas was up 24-3 and had seemingly forced a three and out by the Ole Miss offense with four minutes remaining and a chance to create more separation before getting the ball to start the second half.

Instead, the Rebels were able to keep the ball when the team’s Australian punter started to attempt a rugby punt and saw open turf.

“The fake punt really wasn’t even a fake punt. Their guy they called a rugby punt, we didn’t set the edge, and so he just kept running. It really wasn’t a fake — it’s always an option that they have on the play,” Sarkisian said.

Oscar Bird ran for 17 yards on the play to keep the Texas defense on the field.

After the game, sophomore defensive end Lance Jackson took responsibility for failing to set the edge. Normally, his responsibility is to chip the player on the end of the line of scrimmage, which he did, but Banks later told Jackson that he was trying to alert the roll on the rugby punt. In the moment, Jackson couldn’t hear his coach on the sideline.

“That’s on me,” Jackson said.

Sarkisian was less sure about what happened in the chaos of the onside kick, the second executed successfully against Texas this season, although Tennessee’s effort was ultimately ruled illegal by the conference, for all the good that did after the fact.

“We’re there, we just didn’t make the play,” Sarkisian said. “I didn’t see it. I mean, I saw it, but I don’t know exactly what happened with Emmett [Mosley V] and then Graceson [Littleton] and we don’t make the play.”

After junior wide receiver Ryan Wingo failed to recover the onside kick against the Volunteers, Banks inserted freshman wide receiver Jermaine Bishop on the hands team instead. Once Ole Miss lined up for the onside kick, Texas took a timeout and flipped its alignment, getting Mosley on the side the Rebels sent the onside kick.

But the ball took a big bounce just before it got to Mosley, the normally sure-handed Littleton couldn’t secure it, and Ole Miss came away with it.

In both situations, the Texas defense was able to keep Ole Miss from scoring when senior linebacker Rasheem Biles intercepted a pass on the goal line to effectively end the first half and senior safety Jelani McDonald intercepted the Hail Mary attempt by the Rebels to end the game.

The Longhorns also committed two penalties on special teams, both by freshman linebacker Kosi Okpala.

On the opening kickoff of the second half, Okpala committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the touchback, forcing Texas to start its drive on the 12-yard line, contributing to the sack-fumble that resulted in Ole Miss scoring its first touchdown.

After the Horns regained the lead on Arch Manning’s one-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter, Okpala was called for another penalty for a late hit out of bounds on a 23-yard kickoff return by the Rebels, allowing Ole Miss to start its drive near midfield.

The drive ended with one of the highlights for Texas on special teams — a blocked 58-yard field goal by junior defensive tackle Alex January.

Before the play, January told fifth-year defensive tackle Hero Kanu he was going to “get skinny” through the Ole Miss protection. “Okay, I believe you, I trust you,” Kanu replied, helping his fellow defensive lineman and hearing the sound of hand on ball in return.

Texas took advantage, driving for a field goal that pushed the margin back to 10 points.

Sarkisian pointed to several other positives on special teams, including senior Ryan Niblett returning three punts for 25 yards, senior kicker Gianni Spetic striking the ball better on kickoffs, limiting Ole Miss to the one late return after too many short kicks against Florida resulted in five returns for 105 yards, and senior punter Mac Chiumento turning in his best game of the season by averaging 48.4 yards per punt.

Now, if only the Longhorns had that magic wand…