Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was available to the media following the No. 4 Texas Longhorns’ 31-10 victory over the Wyoming Cowboys. Here’s everything he had to say in his post-game press conference.
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Opening speech: “I love quoting Mack Brown on this topic. As a team, we watched the documentary about the 05 team in the training camp. I’m not entirely sure who we played after the Ohio State game, and I think it was a little similar to this one. He quoted in it that we had a lot of back pain before the game because everyone was patting us on the back about how great we were and how great we played. Even tonight when we walked into the stadium (and) when I walked onto the field, the fans were congratulating us on the win last week. It’s human nature to sometimes get distracted and lose sight of what’s right in front of you. I think that was evident in the first half, especially on offense. We had a few false starts right at the start. We had a false start on the first play. Why this? How can we play on the road at Alabama without suffering a false start, and then come home and suffer a false start on the first play of the game?
This is good for the psyche. It’s not about physical abilities or what we are capable of. We had a moment there where we had 12 guys on the field on defense. How do you come to Alabama and never have a single snap with 12 players on the field, but then come home and have 12 players on the field? I think it was a good lesson for us. I think in the end our guys did a good job of keeping cool and keeping their composure. We talked a lot about our composure and our attitude. I thought that shone through tonight. We ended up adapting schematically to some of the things they were doing. We found a way to dominate the second half of the football game and then ultimately the fourth quarter.
I’ve talked a lot here about being a diverse football team. I thought our versatility showed tonight. During the game it was all about whether we could find a consistent running game. Ultimately, it was the running game that won this game in the fourth quarter. I thought Jonathon Brooks, the offensive line and the tight ends played extremely well. Xavier (Worthy) made a really explosive play. We finally got him in a one-on-one scenario where he could do what he can do. I thought our defense played a really good football game tonight. I think our defense forced five punts in a row at one point in the game after that early part of the game. Our offense had the one 90-yard drive and they forced us to earn it and we knew that was going to happen in the ball game.
Ultimately, I think it was good for us to score on three straight drives in the fourth quarter after (Barryn) Sorrell’s sack. I think that’s what championship teams do. They find a way to win when they are not at their best. It’s safe to say we weren’t at our best tonight. We found a way to win. We found a way to adapt. We found a way to stay calm, keep our composure and then start playing our style and our brand of football, which I think really came into its own.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our fans in the stadium tonight. It was exciting, over 101,000 in the stadium for a non-conference game. Just a great atmosphere. I have to thank (Chris Del Conte) and the administration for the environment they have created here. It’s definitely a home advantage. We feel it. We feed off the energy of our fans and I can’t thank them enough for what they brought tonight and what I know they will continue to bring throughout the season.
Just a few highlights from the game: I thought Ryan Sanborn’s performance on the football was great. I think he had three consecutive punts for 50 yards. Drops another punt inside the five. Jerrin Thompson, two weeks in a row with an interception and what a great play that was this week when he returned it for the touchdown. As I mentioned, the offensive line. I think their ability to impose their will and our ability to dictate the football there in the second half definitely came into play as well. At the end of the day, there’s a lot to learn from games like this, and that’s going to be the key factor for us: when we’re back here, we’ll take the lessons from this game, a win that wasn’t quite pretty, and learn from it, and then prepare “We’re getting ready for Big 12 play starting next week.”
About his team being able to really step on the gas in the fourth quarter: “At the end of the day, I don’t want to have to wait until the fourth quarter, but it’s a little reassuring to know that we can play like that in the fourth quarter. These are consecutive weeks of 21 points in the fourth quarter. I think this is a great honor. I think it’s a credit to our strength and conditioning program and our team being able to play like that in the quarterfinals. I think the coaches deserve a lot of credit for making the right adjustments in the game and at halftime to adapt to what was happening in the ball game. I think a lot of credit goes to the players and their psyche for keeping their poise and keeping their confidence knowing that if we just keep going, good things will happen.
All I heard this offseason and two offseasons ago was that we weren’t a fourth quarter team and we didn’t play well in the fourth quarter. It’s like everything in football, and you hear me say this all the time, generally in our sport you get what you stress. We placed a lot of emphasis on our ability to close games and perform like that in the fourth quarter. I can’t pick two better weeks in a row where we play our best football in the fourth quarter.”
On Jonathon Brooks’ performance and whether that impacts CJ Baxter: “We will deal with it as soon as it comes. Cedric just wasn’t 100 percent tonight and I just didn’t want to risk where he was. I thought Jonathon would have gotten stronger and shined through and through. I kind of felt like he got stronger as the game went on, which is a sign that he’s a really good defender. How many times have we seen this and talked to Bijan (Robinson) about it and how well he ran in the fourth quarter of close games? We need CJ. We have to get him back. The two are both physical runners and run our style. We will monitor this as we move forward. It’s hard for me to sit here and predict who will play and what percentage of games it will be. I just know we have two good players back there who can execute the style of play we want.”
On defense reinforcements late and throughout the year: “I was proud of this group. Barryn, first of all, his bag. We talked about Ethan Burke, we talked about Anthony Hill. We talked about T’Vondre Sweat. We talked about Byron Murphy. Tonight it was Barryn Sorrell who provided the decisive blow and I think that’s a sign of a really good defence. We have several players who can now step up and play in critical moments. I think it was his turn tonight. That really set the stage. There’s something electric about being at the north end of the field where the students are and having the sack made right there. You could feel the energy.
Another guy on defense I wouldn’t mention is Jahdae Barron. Jahdae makes three third-down stops for us that were really big plays. His physicality at that nickel spot shines through, as does the coverage. His ability to get people on the floor, he did that tonight.”
He assumes where his team is entering conference play: “I discussed it with the team in training camp because I felt it was coming to us and now, after three games, I think we are really versatile. It’s a great feeling that we’re not a one-dimensional team. I thought we played exceptionally well on special teams tonight. Xavier had some good returns. Sanborn hits the ball very well. They actually returned a kickoff; We’ll tackle them within the 20. As far as that aspect, the special teams, I like it. That one round upset me, but were we really ready to play in the end? Were we right? They managed the one run, but beyond that we minimized the explosive plays on defense and started to do a better job of stopping the run.
Offensively, we threw the ball very well for two weeks, and tonight it was the running game that picked up steam. When you’re versatile, you don’t have to rely on one player (like in basketball) to score 40 points or we have no chance of winning. We have a group of guys and a team that we can win in a variety of ways. Tonight we needed something different. That’s a really positive thing for me. I really like the fact that we adapt in the game. Much better posture and composure on our sidelines and on our headsets. People are not panicking, we are making good adjustments and that is the positive on this front.
We have a real level of trust in our team that we can rely on. We talked about the culture at length. I really believe this team sticks together. They hold together. You don’t feel like guys are pointing the finger at something else, why not at me, what about it? The only question is: How are we going to win this game?
Then, after we win the game, we can fix some of the problems that arose.”
On whether Sarkisian is worried about his O-line: “I’m fine. We’ve got something to get used to. It’s been two weeks out of three now where we’ve had a completely different defense than what they captured on tape. That’s the sign of a really good team that people like that Making an effort to play a style of defense that they would never play against anyone else.
When that happens, you have to fall back on your training, trust it and be able to block the plays regardless of what we look like. We also had to adapt our game calls a bit. When we were able to do that, I think I gave them better opportunities later in the game tonight to block what we got. They’ve done a really good job of adjusting to that. I think it allowed them to be a little more physical and play the football in a way that allowed them to knock other people off the ball. I think there are some things we can really grow on in last week’s final and again this week with the adjustments we made. Ultimately, we need to make sure we plan the game, prepare and practice things we might see early in the game so we can come out of the game at full strength.”
On Savion Red, Gunnar Helm and Byron Murphy getting offensive opportunities: “Savion, he’s a really talented guy. He was a high school quarterback that we played receiver when he got here. He’s overcome that, his body type is what it is, but we really liked him as a running back. It was a change for him. We had a package for him that we wanted to use. He did pretty well in training camp. We had to put it on hold. Now we’re in a position to start doing it, and it’s somewhat similar to what we’ve been doing with Roschon (Johnson) over the last few years. Tonight we were able to do that with him in a few short-yardage situations. He ran the ball really effectively. That was positive.
Murphy has been on our goal line team for several years. He has excellent hands. Throw him a ball and no one gets more excited than when a D-lineman catches a touchdown pass. That was really cool to see.
Gunnar, I talked about him. He had a great training camp. He played really good football for us in the first two weeks. To give him a chance to catch it, I said, “I gave you a gimmie for a touchdown,” but he didn’t quite get in. It’s just a small reward for the work these guys do. Gunnar played good football. He has good hands to use in the passing game, it is an advantage for us if we can distribute the ball more widely.”
About Kristopher Ross and Cole Hutson: “Both guys, we’re doing an MRI tomorrow morning. Kris has an elbow injury. Cole has a knee injury. I hope these are not long-term injuries. As I said, we’ll know more tomorrow morning. I hope it’s three weeks for everyone. We’ll see how this goes.”
If there is a tendency among young players to believe that “the switch” stays on after the Bama game: “I think that’s a great point. You can’t rely on that. We have to make sure we don’t lose the impression of being a great team in the first half, which we always were in the first two seasons. We’re really excited about the game plan and the boys are executing it at a high level. I want to make sure we get back to this. This is definitely one of our strengths. Ultimately, this is coaching. We have to come here on Monday morning, we have to point out the areas where we can improve first and make sure our psyche is right and that we are dangerous from the opening kick-off and not wait until we have to have it’ moments. We have to have it as soon as the ball kicks off in the first quarter.”
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On whether the team performed to the program’s standard and whether the team is where it wants to be before conference play: “I can say that we probably didn’t perform at our level in the first half. We just didn’t quite have the pop, the energy, the speed that I was used to seeing us play at. There were too many solo tackles on defense. We just didn’t quite find our rhythm offensively, but it felt that way in the second half. I give the boys a lot of credit for recalibrating themselves at half-time and coming out and playing a style of football that suits us.
I criticize myself as hard as I criticize the players, or even harder, and honestly we probably should have scored on the first drive of the third quarter. Those were some bad playcalls, the second and third downcalls. If I could go back and change two calls, I would tell you right now that I would change the two calls I made on second and third down right there in the high red. Quinn (Ewers) ended up getting a sack on third down against something I tried a little too hard to make happen. That’s okay. I will come here on Monday and tell the players exactly the same thing. They know that as coaches we do the same thing even though I criticize them and try to make them better.
I like being 3-0. This is a lot better than any other result we could currently achieve. I think we have a team that believes in themselves and their coaches. I think we have a confident football team, but also one that knows there is still a lot to do. We can start Big 12 play next week and we’re looking forward to it.”