Steve Sarkisian doesn't view Kansas as a trap game with Oklahoma looming
Steve Sarkisian isn’t looked beyond the Kansas Jayhawks, as the Texas Longhorns recognizes the Oklahoma Sooners loom large in the following week.
Before all the hoopla of the Red River Showdown, a matchup between two Top 25, undefeated Big 12 squads will take place between the Jayhawks and the Longhorns. On Monday, Sarkisian explained how he’s keeping Kansas the main thing on Texas’ mind at the moment.
“I think this is a Top 25 matchup, of two undefeated teams. Both very good. In our mind, like we posted today, we’re playing for first place,” explained Sarkisian. “Our goal is to get to Arlington in December. To compete for the Big 12 Championship Game. This game is going to matter a lot, in whether we have that opportunity or not. So this game has got our undivided attention. Again, we talked about it at length with out team this morning, that our focus is on the next mission. Kansas is the next mission. They need all of our attention. They’re a very good football team. So I don’t feel that at all.
“I haven’t heard on word about next week. That’s a good thing. It’s not like I had to stop anybody anywhere and say, ‘Hey, no, no no,’ our guys are focused. They know what it’s going to take. All we have to do is turn the tape on of Kansas. They’re 4-0 for a reason. It’s not by fluke. These guys are playing very good football right now.”
One way to let the air out of the balloon of Texas and Oklahoma would be if the Longhorns lost to Kansas on Saturday. It’s certainly plausible, as the Jayhawks have proven 2022 was no fluke thus far into the 2023 season.
It’ll be a fascinating game to watch on Saturday, and we’ll see if Texas can remain unbeaten, or if Kansas pulls an unexpected upset. Either way, there will be plenty of storylines coming out of this weekend’s game.
Red River Showdown odds: Early point spread released for Texas-Oklahoma rivalry
While Steve Sarkisian isn’t looking ahead, we certainly can. Texas and Oklahoma are both undefeated through the first month of the season with their annual battle at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas looming in two weeks.
With one more week still to go, FanDuel has released an early point spread for the Red River Showdown, and the Longhorns opened as a 5.5-point favorite for the rivalry game. There is not yet an over/under posted for the matchup.
Moreover, Texas is the higher-ranked of the two program. The Longhorns entered this past weekend as the No. 3 team in the country while the Sooners were No. 16. They are ranked so high in part because of their impressive 34-24 victory over Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in Week 2 but also because they have continued to play winning football — even if they did sleepwalk through a tough Wyoming team the following week.
Oklahoma has played in two dominant blowouts and two trickier battles where its defense locked down the opponent. This past weekend versus Cincinnati, the Sooners defense held the Bearcats to only two field goals in a 20-6 victory.
In last year’s matchup, Steve Sarkisian‘s Texas squad laid the beatdown on the Sooners in Brent Venables‘ first Red River Showdown as the program’s head coach. The Longhorns won the game 49-0, which is the most-lopsided loss ever in the history of the rivalry. It was also the first time Texas won the Golden Hat trophy since the 2018 season.
On3’s Peter Warren contributed to this article.