Kirk Herbstreit weighs in on the Casey Thompson, Steve Sarkisian dynamic

First-year head coach Steve Sarkisian decided after Texas’ 40-21 Week 2 loss to Arkansas that it was time for a change, as he replaced then-starter Hudson Card with Casey Thompson at quarterback. And so far, so good.

Since the change, Thompson has led the Longhorns to three-straight wins, and although the first 58-point win over lowly Rice was nothing to boast, the next two — a 70-point performance in a win over Texas Tech and a solid game in a win over TCU — showed Thompson’s potential.

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit praised Thompson’s growth under Sarkisian. According to Herbstreit, Sarkisian believes Thompson is finally beginning to understand what it takes to be the starting quarterback of a program with expectations as high as Texas’.

“Casey Thompson taking over at quarterback — I think it gives them a very, very different feel,” Herbstreit said Monday on The ESPN College Football Podcast. “I was talking to [Sarkisian] last week, and he just said what [Thompson] has figured out as a young guy in a new system is how much prep time you’ve got to put in away from the facility. And he’s starting to really do that.”

Thompson struggled at times last week against TCU, but he got it done when it mattered most. Thompson finished the game completing 12 of his 22 passing attempts, throwing for 142 yards and a touchdown, while also throwing an interception. He wasn’t perfect, but he did enough to push Texas to victory; Sarkisian said his starting quarterback “had a gritty game” last week in the narrow victory.

Thompson’s performance alone isn’t what pushed Texas to victory. Running back Bijan Robinson deserves the bulk of the credit. The Longhorns’ bell cow back helped out Thompson to the rune of 35 carries for 216 yards and two touchdowns.

But with the work ethic and regimen of a star quarterback, Herbstreit beleives that Thompson has positioned himself for success at Texas. And in Sarkisian’s system, Herbstreit thinks Texas has the perfect marriage.

“[Thompson’s work ethic] puts him in a spot to have answers, and in Sark’s system, he always has answers,” Herbstreit said Monday. “He did with Tua [Tagovailoa], he did with Mac Jones, he did it in the NFL when he was with the Falcons. [Sarkisian] has just always been that guy with the system, and if you’re a quarterback, and you listen to what he says and you buy in to processing — the only way you can process quickly is if you understand a coverage and are able to come up with a counter-punch to whatever they do, and [Thompson] seems like he’s doing that.”

Herbstreit pointed out that Thompson didn’t have a perfect performance against TCU, but he did what he needed to do — give the ball to Robinson. Thompson read TCU’s coverage, understood the Horned Frogs had not put together a game plan capable of stopping Robinson, and he capitalized. This week, however, Herbstreit thinks it’ll be a bit different. When Texas faces Oklahoma in the storied Red River Showdown, Oklahoma will have one mission: stopping Robinson.

As a result, Herbstreit believes that the burden will fall on Thompson to step up.

“I think [defensive coordinator] Alex Grinch and that defense will play their best game,” Herbstreit said, noting the build-up surrounding the rivalry game and College Gameday’s presence in Dallas. “I think Casey Thompson is the key to the game because if I’m Alex Grinch, what am I doing? There’s no way — no way — Bijan Robinson is going to carry it 35 times for 200 yards. We are stopping the run game. I don’t care what we’ve got to do, and Sark knows that. So that means they’ve got to come up with a way to attack within their pass game and put a lot on Thompson and his ability to create.”