Steve Sarkisian reveals his play-calling philosophy

Ahead of his debut as the head coach of the Texas Longhorns, Steve Sarkisian went in-depth on his play-calling philosophy.

“I don’t ever lose sight of: the goal is to win the game,” Sarkisian told media on Tuesday. “At the end of the day, when we walk back up that tunnel I want to have one more point than our opponent and whatever we need to do to try and make that happen that’s what I try to do as a play caller. I don’t get stubborn, or at least I try not to get stubborn.”

Sarkisian expanded on his philosophy.

“Sometimes there’s a better call based on the flow of the game and that has been something I tried to pride myself on through this process of being a play caller,” he said. “Yes we work really hard throughout the week and we try to put together a really good gameplay and we try to gather information in our opening calls of the game to figure some things out. But in the end, you have to make the best call available at that time that your players can execute at a high level regardless of if that’s what we said on Wednesday night that we were going to run. Because Wednesday night we thought they were going to play one thing and Saturday at 4:48 they’re playing something different.

“We’ve got to be able to make those adjustments. So I’ve tried to pride myself on that and in the end if it appears that I’m showing off then that’s great. But the reality of it is we’re just trying to win the game.”

Sarkisian was hired to Texas after leading Alabama’s offense to historic heights over the last two seasons. Last season, Alabama led all Power 5 teams in in scoring with 48.5 points per game. On their way to an undefeated national championship season, the Tide had five 50-point games against SEC competition, becoming the first team in league history to record five such games in a single season in conference play.

Under Sarkisian, Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith won the Heisman Trophy, while quarterback Mac Jones was a Heisman Trophy finalist and Davey O’Brien Award winner. Sarkisian’s success didn’t just come through the air. Alabama running back Najee Harris led the nation in rushing touchdowns, winning the Doak Walker Award in the process.

In 2019, the Alabama offense averaged a school-record 47.2 points per game, while averaging 510.8 yards per game.

Safe to say, Sarkisian’s philosophy works.

Heading into this season, Sarkisian and the Texas offense looks to reach similar feats. After a long quarterback battle, second-year quarterback Hudson Card will open the season as the starter over Casey Thompson. Card will look to fourth-year receiver Joshua Moore, third-year receiver Jordan Whittington and freshman Xavier Worthy as his go-to targets.

The Texas offense will run through running back Bijan Robinson. The former five-star enters the season on the 2021 preseason watch list for the  Maxwell Award and Doak Walker Award. Robinson was chosen to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team and a preseason first-team All-American by Phil Steele, too.

As a freshman, Robinson received played in nine games and started six. Robinson carried the ball 86 times for a team-high 703 yards and four touchdowns, adding 15 receptions for 196 yards and two touchdowns

Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns open their season on Saturday against No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette.