Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian usually opens up his conferences with a game recap… but today was different. He started by apologizing to Longhorn nation for not singing The Eyes of Texas after the game concluded and said “it was not intentional… was obviously upset by the way the game ended and literally walked off the field… it will never happen again… it was just a mistake on my part”. He wanted to make clear as well that it had nothing to do with the players and that they just followed Sarkisian off the field. Returning back to the usual conference pattern, Sarkisian then touched on how the team couldn’t find rhythm in the 2nd half and had too many “self-inflicted wounds” again.
Throughout the conference, Sarkisian reiterated that the bye week the Longhorns have is needed and that they are “banged up”. This is referencing players like DB Anthony Cook who, according to Sarkisian, has a broken arm and is “week-to-week”. He also emphasized that they are going to utilize the bye week in 3 key ways: getting healthy, working on the development of young players and understanding the opportunity the team has moving forward. He is also encouraging his players to “take a step back” and reflect and spend time with their families/loved ones. Sarkisian mentioned other key themes for this week, and assumably the rest of the season, like consistency, overall execution and even “mowing your own lawn” to “take care of our own business”.
Sarkisian was then asked about specific performances by the special teams unit, Quinn Ewers, and if he thought about putting in QB Hudson Card at some point. “I feel good about what we are doing kicking wise” says Sarkisian, and mentioned how well kicker Will Stone played with tough wind on the kickoffs. Also added that punter Daniel Trejo and their gunners have been very effective. With Quinn, Sarkisian believes that “the precision wasn’t right… it’s not just him, it’s as a group” and that Ewers will be working on his reads this week in practice. Regarding replacing Ewers with Hudson Card on Saturday, Sarkisian stated that he “didn’t consider it very strongly in the game” and says the QB position gets “way too much credit when things go good and gets way too much blame when things don’t go good”.
Sarkisian reiterates how he loves the team’s style of play but mentions how they are “still a work in progress”. Going into their bye week, let’s see if Sarkisian and the Longhorns can change that.
Twitter: @RSwantkowski
