Steve Sarkisian once again is the target of widespread scrutiny after Texas’ latest high-profile loss.
But despite the Longhorns’ narrow championship path and their overall lack of big-game success during his coaching tenure in Austin, Sarkisian defended the culture at Texas and praised his team’s mindset ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Oklahoma in the Allstate Red River Rivalry.
“Probably wouldn’t be fair to these guys to say, you know, our culture is perfect right now,” Sarkisian said Monday. “They’re all — they’re due to do the right things. They were great today. They came in, they were coachable. They took to the tough coaching from Saturday.
“So their mindset is all there, so that tells me the culture’s right. But at the end of the day, we got to play together as a team Saturday.”
Sarkisian’s comments came two days after Texas fell to 3-2 with Saturday’s 29-21 loss at struggling Florida.
The Longhorns, the preseason No. 1-ranked team, fell out of the Associated Press poll with the loss and saw their chances of reaching the College Football Playoff drop to just 22%, according to ESPN Analytics.
Texas is just 3-8 against AP top-10 teams all time under Sarkisian, who raised more eyebrows Monday when asked whether he was surprised by the Longhorns’ struggles this season.
“I don’t know if I’m stunned,” he responded. “I mean, take the other — how many teams are there in college football? One hundred and thirty-six. Take the other 135 and have them go play at Ohio State and at the Swamp. See how they do.”
Texas reeled off three consecutive victories after its season-opening loss at Ohio State, but the loss at Florida renewed criticism of Sarkisian, who accepted responsibility for the Longhorns’ slow start.
“We don’t have time for the ‘poor me.’ We don’t have time for the ‘woe is us,'” he said Monday. “We’ve got to come to work, and I think I have to exemplify that. I can’t let my actions betray my words, and if I’m going to say those things, well, I have to be a model of that, and that’s in our preparation.”
According to ESPN Analytics, Texas has a 3% chance of running the table and reaching the College Football Playoff as a two-loss team.
Beating the sixth-ranked Sooners (5-0) on Saturday would vault the Longhorns back in the thick of the SEC title chase, the first step toward the 12-team playoff. Sarkisian said he didn’t like the “noise around how we’re playing,” but acknowledged that he can’t control the narrative about Texas struggling to meet lofty expectations.
“I can’t control things outside of our building and outside of our team,” he said. “But I can control [our preparation for Oklahoma] and I can control our mindset and I can control our approach. And then, ultimately, the staff and the players follow suit that way. So I have to look at me first, and I can’t let my actions betray my words. If I want our players to act a certain way, I surely better model that.”
