Bob Stoops painfully says Steve Sarkisian, Texas will get the job done

There is nothing harder than addressing the success of a rival. Former Oklahoma head coach and current Fox Big Noon Kickoff analyst Bob Stoops painfully faced that situation on Saturday. During the college football pregame show, Stoops talked about the trajectory of Texas football and the recent hire of Steve Sarkisian.

“Yeah, this isn’t easy for me to say,” Stoops said. “It kind of pains me to say it. I believe they’re gonna have a strong year. I believe it’s going to start today against a really good Louisiana team.”

He continued: “They’re going to be a strong team. I believe [Sarkisian has] hired a strong staff. They have top-10 recruiting classes here for the last 10-20 years. And I look first to the defense. Their new coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski is a really strong defensive coordinator and is proven and has done well.”

Stoops expects the biggest difference to come on offense, where Sarkisian has made a name for himself. The former Pac-12 head coach and Alabama coordinator brings a group of Alabama coaches with him, including new offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and quarterback coach A.J. Milwee.

“And you got Steve Sarkisian as an offensive coordinator, a play-caller, and as quarterback coach,” Stoops said. “He’s had great success and I believe with a couple of young quarterbacks, Hudson Card and Casey Thompson, he’ll do a good job with them.”

More comments from Bob Stoops

Stoops had compliments for Sarkisian, but not without taking a couple of jabs at the Longhorns. The former Oklahoma coach previously talked about Sarkisian on Fox Sports’ Big Noon Kickoff livestream in August.

“I think Steve Sarkisian is a heck of a football coach,” Stoops said. “For Texas, I feel like the biggest difference is you look at Oklahoma and we’ve won 90% of Big 12 championships. I equate it back to quarterback play. You look at coach Sarkisian’s history and background with quarterbacks, he’s been highly successful. You look at his offensive acumen when he was an offensive coordinator, highly successful.

“I think that’s been the biggest difference between OU and Texas over a good number of years: we’ve had the quarterbacks. At any level of football, that matters. That guy makes such a big difference.”

Since 1996, Oklahoma has won 14 Big 12 championships compared to three for the Longhorns. The Sooners have had four Heisman-winning quarterbacks in that span while Texas has none (running back Ricky Williams in 1998 is the last Longhorns player to win the trophy). Oklahoma nearly had three quarterbacks in a row win the award, but Jalen Hurts finished second in 2019.

Stoops went 11-7 against Texas in the Red River Rivalry over 18 seasons as the head coach at Oklahoma. His replacement Lincoln Riley is 3-1 against the Longhorns in four seasons, including a four-overtime thriller in 2020.