Steve Sarkisian believes Red River Showdown a measuring stick game

University of Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke about their upcoming Red River Showdown game against Oklahoma, and how he measures Texas’ success. The No. 21 ranked Longhorns take on the No. 6 ranked Oklahoma Sooners in Dallas on Saturday in the newest chapter of their storied rivalry.

Steve Sarkisan on the Red River Showdown

Ahead of their rivalry game with Oklahoma, Sarkisian spoke with reporters about how he judges his team’s progress no matter what outside parties use as a benchmark.

“The peripheral puts measuring sticks on us of where we are,” Sarkisian explained. “For us, our process is our process and we have to wire in and respect every opponent we play and make sure we’re putting our best foot forward. And ultimately, week-in and week-out we see where we’re at. Are we making incremental gains to continue to get better?”

“And I think that when you take over a program you always want the big leaps and bounds, and the growth and all those things, but for me the positive has been — I really believe that we’re making incremental progress as a program in a lot of different phases. Whether that’s mental toughness, whether that’s physical toughness, whether that’s style of play [and] whether that’s recruiting. There’s a lot that goes into it. But in the end when you’re playing the team that over recent history has won the conference, well here’s an opportunity to basically see ‘where are we at this point?’ And we look forward to the challenge — we’re going to find out.”

Sarkisian was asked later during the press conference if he had reached out to any former players or coaches to help convey the importance of this rivalry game to his team.

“Honestly, our guys know the importance of this thing,” Sarkisian assured. “They get it, they know. Everybody loves to bring in the guys to come talk to the team in the biggest games, [but] I always feel like maybe you should bring them in on the games where maybe we’re not as motivated. From a mental capacity and understanding the importance of the game and the value, especially for the fan base and all that is involved — the ex-players and all that. Our guys definitely understand that.”

Sarkisian and the Longhorns are 4-1 entering the Red River Showdown with their only loss coming against Arkansas in their second game of the season. Texas scored an impressive 70 points against Texas Tech two weeks ago, and won a close game against TCU going into this week.

The Sooners are undefeated through five games, but have had four of their wins come by less than seven points. The highest offensive output of their season came against Western Carolina University in a 76-0 victory.