In its 44 games under head coach Steve Sarkisian, the Texas football team has left its offense on the field for 80 fourth-down conversion attempts. And on 36 of those tries, the Longhorns have not been successful.

So in some ways, Texas going for it on fourth-and-3 against Mississippi State on Saturday wasn't news. Neither was the Longhorns failing to convert. But due to the circumstances of that play, Sarkisian was asked to explain himself following a 35-13 win over the Bulldogs.

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With Texas leading 14-6 in the third quarter at Royal-Memorial Stadium, the Longhorns faced a fourth-and-8 at the Mississippi State 31. Texas opted to attempt a 49-yard field goal that senior kicker Bert Auburn made. Mississippi State, however, was called offsides on the play.

Rather than decline the penalty and take the three points recorded by Auburn's leg, Texas let the referees move the football to the Mississippi State 26. Texas then went for it. On the fourth-down attempt, UT quarterback Arch Manning floated a pass toward his sideline that Isaiah Bond couldn't catch and Texas turned the football over on downs.

So Sark, what was that all about?

During UT's postgame press conference, Sarkisian explained that he had already decided on third down that the offense would go for it if Texas needed three yards or less on fourth down. When the Mississippi State penalty brought the Longhorns within that three-yard range, he stuck with his initial plan.

"I thought they played what we were running pretty good. We got the look we wanted, they played it pretty good," said Sarkisian, who is 30-14 at Texas. "I wish Arch could have maybe given Isaiah a little better throw, it was going to be a really tough catch for him. But that's human nature, sometimes the throw is not perfect, the catch isn't great and it falls incomplete.

"But I'm never going to apologize for us trying to stay aggressive because our players appreciate us being aggressive. It wasn't us going rogue. It was something that we believed in that hey, this was the number of where we were going to go and that number came up and so we went for it."

Sarkisian told reporters that "I can sit here and beat myself up (about that fourth-down play), but I beat myself up for something earlier in the game already enough." When asked what he did to draw his own ire, Sarkisian said he had a play he wanted to call for a third-and-1 scenario in the first quarter but didn't. On the play that Texas instead went with, running back Jaydon Blue lost a fumble at the Mississippi State 21.

"Coach Sark was getting cussed out in his own head," Sarkisian said with a laugh.

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian discusses failed fourth-down call