Steve Sarkisian pays highest compliment to fellow Big 12 programs

Over the course of the 2022 season, the Big 12 has emerged as one of the country’s most competitive conferences. Several different teams have made the case as the conference’s best during the first seven weeks. In Steve Sarkisian’s opinion, the consistency across the Big 12 board is all the evidence he needs to claim his conference is one of the nation’s best.

Sarkisian spoke about parity within the Big 12 during his press conference on Monday. He compared it to the pros in how talented the league is and how it leads to the notion that anyone can win anywhere on any day.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“I mean the NFL would probably be the closest to feel like every game on Sunday afternoon comes down to the last drive or a field goal or somebody’s trying to ice the game out. It’s a great conference. It’s a bunch of really good coaches and a bunch of really good players that compete at a really high level,” said Sarkisian. “You never turn on a tape and feel like this team laid down. Everybody battles and competes. Everybody’s fighting for it. Everybody’s got a really good home-field advantage. There is a lot of parity.”

Texas has been amongst the Big 12 crowd with a 5-2 overall record and a 3-1 start in conference play. Still, they find themselves just third with both TCU (6-0, 3-0) and Kansas State (5-1, 3-0) ahead of them. Those three teams make up three of the Big 12’s four total ranked teams heading into Week 8.

Of the league’s other seven teams, three have an overall winning record, three sit at .500, and only one has a losing record. That last team is 3-4 Iowa State who has lost their four games by an average score of just 3.5 points.

This sort of overall success across the board means nothing is set in stone in the conference yet. That’s why Sarkisian wants to see his team treat every game from here on out like it’s the Big 12 title game or a postseason matchup.

“There’s a lot of football left to be played in our conference. I think the key to the drill is one game at a time…This Saturday is another championship game. You have to look at it almost like you’re in the playoffs,” Sarkisian said. “They don’t get easier. It doesn’t matter the record. Everybody’s good…We’re all in it. Everybody’s fighting for it. It takes great effort every Saturday to try to come out successful.”