Steve Sarkisian addresses Texas' 'adapt or die' approach to new college football landscape

College football has had a great season so far at the halfway point of this fall. Steve Sarkisian thinks so too as one of the top head coaches currently in the sport.

Sarkisian spoke about the present state of collegiate football while on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday. He thinks the game’s acclaim is at a new high this year, especially with the effect on it by the expansion of the College Football Playoff.

“First of all, I’m going to say this about college football. I think, from a popularity standpoint, we’re at an all-time high, man – all-time high, baby,” said Sarkisian. “It’s amazing, man. It’s amazing.I think this new playoff is going to be incredible for college football.”

Texas has enjoyed the year as much as any team to this point in 2024. The Longhorns are the No. 1 team in the nation at 6-0 with a win at Michigan along with their latest victory over Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry. That includes a 2-0 start to conference play as part of their debut season in the SEC.

Still, Texas, like all other programs, is having to continue to adjust to all that’s new about their game. Each aspect is a lot already but all of them together make college football, let alone athletics as a whole at the level, much different than what it what was.

With that said, Sarkisian knows how to have to approach this new era if they want to succeed during it on The 40 Acres.

“I also think we have to continually adapt as programs, right? Times are changing, right,” Sarkisian said. “You know, NIL has changed. You know, revenue sharing coming, what that’s going to look like. Like, conference realignment.

“We’ve been preaching that all along. It was something that I got from Coach Saban – adapt or die,” Sarkisian added. “There’s a reason that dinosaurs aren’t on the earth anymore. They didn’t adapt.”

Some brands, coaches, and rosters are going to better be able to handle everything that comes these days with college football. Texas is among them too with their perspective on what they have been but also can be.

“We’ve tried to adapt to the times and use some of the new things to our advantage but yet not lose sight of holding true to who we are and what we’re about,” Sarkisian said.