Texas coach Steve Sarkisian opened his Monday press briefing after the Longhorns’ 41-34 loss to Oklahoma State by apologizing for not singing “The Eyes of Texas,” the school song, before leaving the field .
“As you know, I owe Longhorn Nation an apology,” Sarkisian said. “I made a mistake at the end of the game by not singing ‘The Eyes of Texas’ when the game was over. It wasn’t on purpose. It had nothing to do with our players. I think our players are just followed up the ramp to the dressing room, obviously upset at the end of the game.”
The song has been the subject of controversy in recent years, with the school theorizing that its origins are likely linked to a minstrel show sung by performers in blackface. Former head coach Tom Herman was criticized for letting players choose whether to sing it.
At Sarkisian’s introductory press conference in January 2021, he made an emphatic statement that this would not be an issue going forward.
“I know this much, ‘The Eyes of Texas’ is our school song,” he said. “We’re going to sing this song. We’ll sing it proudly.”
But on Saturday, after the defeat, only a few players left stayed on the field in Stillwater for the song.
said Sarkisian. “I apologize to everyone for that. It will never happen again. But again, it wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t premeditated at all. It was just a mistake on my part. Nothing to do with the players. They followed.” my lead on it. So that this doesn’t happen again.
Sarkisian addressed the Longhorns’ loss to the Cowboys, in which they had 14 penalties, the most since 2015, and lost a 14-point lead they had in the second quarter. It was Sarkisian’s fifth loss in which the Longhorns lost a double-digit margin since he was hired in 2021, the widest in the FBS in that span. It was also the Longhorns’ fifth straight road loss, their second-longest road loss streak in the past 80 years.
Sarkisian said he’s still seeing improvements and isn’t concerned about the trend.
“It’s easy to look at the record,” said Sarkisian, who is 10-10 with Texas. “We’ve come a long way as a program. I feel really good about where we came from. I love our style of play. I think we play hard, we play hard. Like many programs, I think we’re still there in the works. You know, some balls bounce a certain way and our record is different. I wouldn’t change my mind on our program and the direction we’re going.
And he addressed Saturday’s struggles of quarterback Quinn Ewers, who went 19-of-49 for 319 yards, with two touchdowns to three interceptions. His 15 falls were the most in FBS in the past three seasons.
“Would I have liked more precision in passing, does some of that responsibility fall on him? Yes,” said Sarkisian. “Part of that responsibility lies with me. Part of it is with the receivers, part with the O-Line, the running backs, everyone has to take their own responsibility. There is definitely room for growth.”
Sarkisian said he never seriously considered benching Ewers for the Hudson Card.
“I think Quinn is wired right,” Sarkisian said. “I think he’ll be the first to tell you he’d like to play better than he did.”
Texas has a bye week before heading to Kansas State on November 5th.