Steve Sarkisian calls Texas 'championship caliber' after OT win over Kansas State

Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns eked out a 33-30 win over Kansas State at home to improve to 8-1 on the season.

The overtime victory was a rollercoaster and a near blown lead for the Longhorns. However, defense won the game in the end despite some late mistakes from Maalik Murphy, who started his second straight game for the injured Quinn Ewers.

Sarkisian spoke with FOX sideline reporter Jenny Taft after the thrilling victory.

“Well, we found a way to make it hard on ourselves today,” Sarkisian said. “Turning the ball over the way that we did, especially in our end, but we just continue to fight and I think that’s what makes this team special. We talked about it yesterday. We find the way to win. I think that’s what championship teams do and I think this is a championship caliber team. We got to keep trying to get better.”

Taft asked Sarkisian about Murphy still being the guy moving forward should Ewers miss more time. The head coach chalked it up to the team rallying overall despite injuries.

“Well, anytime you’re playing with the backup quarterback, we lost our starting right tackle, we got a little nicked up, some guys got banged up today and inevitably we got to take care of the ball better,” Sarkisian said. “But our bounce back was tremendous.”

Murphy finished the game 19-of-37 passing for 248 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Jonathon Brooks added 22 carries for 112 yards and one touchdown on the ground.

Sarkisian’s crew kept pace at the top of the Big 12 race and made to keep their current College Football Playoff ranking intact. With three games left, Texas is firmly in both pictures.

The close call against Kansas State aside, it’ll be interesting to watch what happens with Ewers moving forward. If he’s healthy enough to come back, he might be back just in time for the final stretch of the regular season and help Texas climb the mountain.