Stephen A. Smith blasts Steve Sarkisian after Texas’s 3-2 start: ‘I think he has coached scared’
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Stephen A. Smith ripped Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian during a Tuesday morning rant on ESPN’s First Take.
The Longhorns were the preseason No. 1 team in the country in both the AP and Coaches polls, but after Week 6 of the 2025 season all they have to show for it is a 3-2 record that includes an 0-2 mark against Power 4 programs. In other words, Texas not only has 2 losses already in early October, but it has lost both of its showdown games, falling in Week 1 at Ohio State and then last Saturday at Florida.
Texas’s 3 victories in between those 2 losses have come against lesser opponents San Jose State, UTEP and Sam Houston. But when the lights have gotten bright for Sarkisian and his team, the Longhorns have wilted, and Smith wasn’t going to let Sarkisian get away with what he thinks is a bad job so far in getting the most out of his talent.
A big part of that talent, of course, is quarterback Arch Manning, who has thrown for 1,151 yards and 11 touchdowns but also has 5 interceptions in 5 games. His completion percentages in the 2 losses to Ohio State and Florida are just 56.7 and 55.2, respectively. Smith has seen it all develop through 5 games and 6 weeks, and he had to say something.
“I’m very disappointed with what I’ve seen from Steve Sarkisian this year. To me, he has coached scared,” Smith said. “He has coached like somebody who’s been forced to deal with all the allure, all the attention and notoriety that comes with Arch Manning, and he has not lived up to the billing any more than his quarterback has.”
Smith believes the pressure cooker has gotten the best of Sarkisian so far in 2025.
“I think he’s been feeling the pressure since the opening of the season, and he has coached like it,” Smith said. “You’re Texas. You came into the season ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation. I think that he has coached scared because of Arch Manning, there were huge expectations, and he has been dealing with all that instead of just coaching football.”
Here is the full video of Smith’s rant on Sarkisian:
It doesn’t get any easier for a Texas team that is now unranked in the AP Poll, as the Longhorns face No. 6 Oklahoma on Saturday in the Red River Rivalry. Sarkisian and his team will again be put to the test as the old rivals kick it off at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
