Steve Sarkisian cautions against 'rat poison,' quoting his old boss, Nick Saban

Steve Sarkisian’s team changed plenty of opinions about them against the former No. 1 team in the country. Few gave Texas a puncher’s chance against Alabama this weekend. The Longhorns proved several people wrong, though, by keeping pace with the Crimson Tide until the very end.

Be that as it may, Sarkisian foresees a negative in having nearly upset his former team. He spoke during his press conference on Monday about how this will undoubtedly put out ‘rat poison’ for his team. It’s now on him and his staff to steer them clear of that.

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“I think first of all, to quote my old boss, we’ve got to be careful of the rat poison of people telling us how good we are, which is important,” said Sarkisian. “A week ago everyone told us how bad we were. Now, this week, everyone wants to tell us how good we are. We’ve got to be careful to quiet the noise outside of our building and focus on us. Be enamored with us and focus on our preparation. I think that’s the first part.”

After many told them they weren’t in the same league as their opponent from the moment they scheduled this game, Texas was seconds away from winning the football game. That’s true even with the things that went wrong for the Longhorns this weekend. Losing Quinn Ewers and a handful of calls they didn’t feel went their way did not tie a hand behind their back.

Steve Sarkisian’s team took the lead with 1:29 left and held it until the final 10 seconds. Texas could count the 20-19 loss as a moral victory, but Sarkisian wants his team to take it for what it was and move on. Patting themselves on the back puts them at risk of poisoning the momentum they built this weekend. They disproved the narrative about them but, with the loss, they must now refocus on the task at hand of competing the rest of the season too.