Sarkisian’s Post-Bye Week Presser Notes

The bye week has come and gone, and it seems like the OU game is now in the rearview mirror… at least, for the most part. A win this week would give the Longhorns some needed momentum, and the Houston Cougars may be the ones to help Texas gain it as the Cougars are just 3-3 on the season. Let’s see what head coach Steve Sarkisian had to say about the bye week, the upcoming game, injuries and more. 

• Regarding the Cougars, Sark stated they “know this team presents a lot of challenges…” and made sure to mention that UH QB Donovan Smith knows Texas well, as he transferred from Texas Tech this past offseason. Texas fans don’t like the memory of that game from last year…
• Team injury update: “everybody practiced” Monday morning and Sarkisian stated that they will know more as the week goes on.
• Sarkisian on bye week realizations: “one area that jumped out to me is how efficient we’ve [Texas] been 4th down…” and mentioned that the red zone offense and execution still needs to be “taken to another level”. 
• An emphasis Sark mentioned was having “to take the ball off of people more…”. The Longhorns have 6 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries in 6 games played. 
• Regarding practice last week during the bye, Sarkisian stated that “practice remained highly competitive… it wasn’t just our front-line guys” but also the two’s and three’s on the depth chart. He also dropped my favorite quote of the day: “Opportunities are only great if you seize them.” 
• Last weekend, Houston beat West Virginia on a Hail Mary throw as time expired. Sarkisian stated that the game “felt a lot like our [Texas’]  2 weeks ago” against OU as the final play was also a hail mary. 
• 3 keys mentioned by Sark regarding the 2-minute defense: “one thing is to zone drop right, another is to keep your pass lanes clean, and the 3rd component to that is that you have to tackle well.” 
• When asked about the red zone offense, Sarkisian stated “there’s no secret sauce” to it and that they need to just go out and execute. 
• Sarkisian on the younger defensive players’ snap numbers: “I want a highly competitive team, I want guys fighting for snaps… We are a better team when we play more players… they are going to earn those things.” 
• Sarkisian, this past weekend, was able to attend some high school football games for recruitment purposes, and stated he “loved it” but that it is “a lot more difficult now” as new rules have limited the number of times you are allowed to go do those trips. 

Twitter: @Rswantkowski