Steve Sarkisian reflects on Texas' belief, ability to battle back until final second

Texas ended up coming up short against Washington in the Sugar Bowl, but the Longhorns didn’t go down without a fight.

After trailing by two scores in the final period, Steve Sarkisian‘s team battled back and had the ball late with a chance to win, before Quinn Ewers‘ pass to the end zone on the final play of the game fell incomplete.

Still, it was a valiant effort by the Longhorns, who finished the year with a 12-2 record and as Big 12 champions. Following the game, Steve Sarkisian spoke about his team’s effort and belief that Texas was going to find a way to win.

“We put ourselves in position again tonight to have a chance to win the game. It just didn’t happen. But I think that speaks to the mental toughness that these guys have, the resiliency, and also the connection that they have for one another,” Sarkisian said. “These guys never lost faith. They believed that we were gonna win that game. It was just how. That was the biggest thing is how were we going to do it. ‘We know we’re going to, it’s just how.’ And unfortunately we came up short tonight.”

A ton of work went into the offseason to get the Longhorns ready for 2023, and it paid off as Texas put itself in a position to win a national title.

But after being 5-1 in games decided by 10 points or less going into the playoff, the Longhorns were unable to keep that momentum going against Washington.

“We push our guys hard. Like I told them in the locker room, this has been a 12-month journey. We started winter conditioning last January. And those workouts aren’t always fun, but we’re building character in those workouts. It’s cold. We go in the morning. We practice really hard. Our practices are demanding. Our summer workouts, when we run in the afternoon and it’s 120 degrees, that’s for a reason. It’s to build character and it’s to develop the mental toughness and the resiliency,” Sarkisian said.

“And then we get to training camp and we practice hard. And there’s a belief in our style and what we do. And I think it showed this season. There were a lot of games that came down to the wire for us this year. We found a way to win.”

Sarkisian is proud of the season Texas had, even if it didn’t end the way he was hoping it would.

“When you get into sport, all you can do is put forth maximum effort in your preparation, get yourself in the right frame of mind and play as hard as you can. And in the end, somebody’s going to win and somebody’s going to lose,” Sarkisian said. “And either way, that should build character and that should help these guys in whatever they end up going and doing in life.”