1st & 10: Lessons from BYU great LaVell Edwards can help former Cougar Steve Sarkisian with his QBs this week

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will lead the Longhorns against the BYU Cougars on Saturday, the second time in his career as a head coach he’ll battle against his alma mater. Reminiscing Monday on his two years in Provo where he passed for almost 7500 yards and took home the 1996 WAC offensive player of the year honors, Sarkisian spoke about his memories of playing for legendary BYU head coach LaVell Edwards.

[Join Inside Texas and get ONE MONTH of Longhorn intel for just $1!]

There was one particular memory that stood out during his two-year career, and that one offers a critical lesson this week as Sarkisian likely prepares Maalik Murphy or Arch Manning for an increased volume of snaps in place of the week-to-week Quinn Ewers.

Sarkisian spoke Monday about an unidentified game when BYU coaches were mulling what to call without coming to a clear consensus.

“There was dialogue with (Norm) Chow, our offensive coordinator, and Roger French, our O-line coach, of what we were going to do,” Sarkisian said. “Nobody could really agree, and I’ll never forget Coach Edwards looking at me and saying ‘Sark, what do you want to run?’ I referenced a play that I wanted to run, and he turned around and said we’re running the play I just referenced.”

Edwards knew a thing or two about quarterbacks, coaching a number of stars like Sarkisian, Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, Jim McMahon, Robbie Bosco, John Walsh, and Steve Young to name a few. Across his 29 seasons of coaching Cougars, there was one common theme when it came to signal-callers that Sarkisian experienced first hand.

“I think one thing that he did a great job of in my time there was making you feel like the coach believed in you,” Sarkisian said. “There was rapport there as the quarterback that I was his guy. He believed in what I was able to do. I think that’s something we try to do here. When you become the guy at quarterback, there’s a sense of belief in that guy. That’s why there’s a constant dialogue to try to put them in the best position they feel comfortable with to go execute.”

There’s no better time for Sarkisian to channel his college head coach than against the Cougars this weekend. Texas is most likely going to march someone other than Ewers out at quarterback. That means Sarkisian will have to successfully tailor the gameplan and individual play-calls to what an entirely different quarterback does well.

“They don’t have to run the whole playbook,” Sarkisian said. “They need to run what they run really well.”

In limited chances, Murphy mostly made the correct reads during his outing against Houston in place of Ewers. The game situation likely dictated a few of those, but based off what his eyes told him pre-snap he tended to put the ball in the right place during his two late-game drives. Because of his status as the No. 2 versus Houston, and considering Sarkisian said Monday that Murphy would be the starter if the game were that afternoon, Sark’s week of prep must focus on finding out what’s best for Murphy.

Murphy can push the ball down field with arm strength. That arm strength has also been overused at times, firing fastballs when just getting it there is all that’s needed. The point is to complete the pass, as Sarkisian would say. That’s something Sarkisian needs to reinforce this week.

He also has the faith of his teammates as several relayed on Monday the level of high confidence they have in Murphy.

There’s also Manning, of course. Manning has not yet seen the field in 2023, and Sarkisian said the 2023 On3 Industry Ranking’s No. 1 overall prospect would be “ready to go” this Saturday. Sarkisian even praised Manning’s practices, saying there have been outings in recent weeks that were his best yet as a Longhorn.

Sarkisian has to ensure he’s calling an offense that brings out the best from the quarterback he puts on the field Saturday. That’s a process that includes a meeting with A.J. Milwee and the quarterbacks every Friday where they go over the call-sheet and have the quarterbacks describe plays they like or don’t like in certain situations.

During a season with high expectations that aren’t likely to be lowered because of the current situation, Sarkisian will have to deploy a quarterback other than the starter, maybe even two. When planning how to make it past the Cougars, Sarkisian should look back on his time as a Cougar under Edwards and utilize what’s comfortable for Murphy or Manning. Just like his mentor, it wouldn’t hurt if he expressed belief in the novice QBs that inspires confidence in the ability to gain yards and put up points.

1: Sarkisian has coached against his alma mater as a head coach one time. To open the 2010 season, the Washington Huskies traveled to Provo to play in LaVell Edwards Stadium. U-Dub held a 17-13 lead at halftime, but 10 third-quarter points by the Cougars helped BYU surge ahead for the 23-17 lead.

On Saturday vs BYU, Steve Sarkisian will become the fifth Texas football coach in the last 100 years to coach against his alma mater. The others:

🏈 Fred Akers (7-3 vs. Arkansas)
🏈 Darrell Royal (12-7-1 vs. OU)
🏈 Blair Cherry (3-1 vs. TCU)
🏈 Jack Chevigny (1-0 vs. Notre Dame) pic.twitter.com/PK9VhErbMC

— Danny Davis (@_dannydavis) October 24, 2023

2: On Monday, I asked Texas running back Jonathon Brooks a simple question that I give to the leader at that position every year: how are you feeling?

At this stage, Brooks has 108 carries and 10 catches through six games. Last season, Bijan Robinson had 110 carries and 12 catches through six games. A similar workload, even with high quality backups like Roschon Johnson and CJ Baxter.

“Physically I feel fine, especially coming off the bye week,” Brooks said Monday. “Game in and game out, you get a little bit of bumps and bruises but overall I feel fine.”

3: Saturday will mark the 700th home game in the history of the Texas football program, though just the 529th at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. From 1896 to 1924, Clark Field served as the home of the Longhorns. UT hosted 12 games at various locations between 1893 and 1895.

4: Next Tuesday, the College Football Playoff committee will release their initial rankings of the 2023 campaign in a 6 p.m. Halloween broadcast on ESPN. The Tuesday rankings release in recent years has simply been a way to find out how the committee views a two- or three-loss Texas team as the highest ranking in the CFP the Longhorns have ever achieved is No. 14 during the 2018 campaign. If the Longhorns take care of business against the Cougars, Texas is certain to be in the top 10 of the College Football Playoff rankings for the first time ever.

5: CFP selection committee chair Boo Corrigan and executive director Bill Hancock will be available to the media via teleconference following the release of the rankings. This phone call will reveal how the committee views certain teams, what they’re emphasizing this year, and what Sarkisian might need to keep in the back of his mind during games. Winning obviously should be at the forefront.

6: In his BYU career, Sarkisian was 528-for-789 for 7464 yards, 53 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions. In 1996 as part of a 14-1 season that ended with the Cougars topping Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl, Sarkisian was 278-for-404 for 4027 yards and 33 touchdowns over 12 interceptions. He even rushed for a score, bringing his total to 34 on the season.

One of those 14 wins was a 41-37 victory over Texas A&M. The Washington Post’s opening paragraph in their game story?

Steve Sarkisian wrecked the “Wrecking Crew.” The Brigham Young quarterback threw six touchdown passes as the Cougars upset No. 13 Texas A&M, 41-37, in the Pigskin Classic, the opening game of the college football season.

7: BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis is 128-for-226 this year for 1519 yards and 12 touchdowns over four interceptions. Slovis, who transferred from USC to Pitt to BYU, will be the sixth transfer quarterback to line up versus the Longhorns this year. Texas opened the season versus Rice’s JT Daniels, who started at USC, transferred to Georgia, then transferred again to West Virginia before arriving in Houston. Sawyer Robertson was under center for Baylor. Robertson originally started his career at Mississippi State. Kansas’ Jason Bean, who started in place of Jalon Daniels, transferred from North Texas after the 2020 season. Houston started Donovan Smith, who played plenty at Texas Tech in 2022. Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel began his career at Central Florida.

8: The national game of the week this Saturday is No. 8 Oregon at No. 13 Utah. The Ducks are 6.5-point favorites over the Utes. Give me Utah against the spread but Oregon outright.

There’s a quality Group of 5 game on late Saturday night, too. The UNLV Rebels travel to Fresno, Calif. to face Fresno State in a battle between two 6-1 teams.

9: The Longhorns in the NFL piece is always a fun one for me to review, and that held true this week especially when reading about D’Onta Foreman‘s big game for the Chicago Bears. Foreman rushed 16 times for 89 yards and two touchdowns, and caught three passes for 31 yards and a score in the Bears’ 30-12 victory over Las Vegas.

It’s been an up-and-down career for Foreman, with injuries interfering with his trajectory. The Bears are his fourth team in six seasons, and he seems to be relishing the chance to share a backfield with fellow Longhorn Roschon Johnson.

Foreman put together one of the best individual seasons by a Longhorn running back in 2016, though it was unfortunately clouded by the 5-7 campaign. He became the second Longhorn to rush for 2000 yards in a season, tallying 2028 on the ground in 12 games. Only Ricky Williams during his Heisman campaign covered more distance. He had 11 games with 100 or more yards, matching a feat from Earl Campbell’s Heisman campaign. He also has the most rushing yards in a Big 12 game in Texas history, rushing 33 times for 341 yards and three scores as his efforts were critical in outlasting Texas Tech.

More and more for the Bears, he’s showing off the special traits he put on full display in 2016 that helped him take home the Doak Walker Award.

10: Texas hoops starts in earnest next week, with a scrimmage versus St. Edward’s scheduled for Monday night. Texas head coach Rodney Terry, who will be available to the media Wednesday afternoon, was a point guard at St. Edward’s. There isn’t likely to be any new information on the status of Dylan Disu and Kadin Shedrick after what Terry said last week after the Orange-White scrimmage. Both are slated to return during non-conference play. Texas starts the season November 6 against Incarnate Word.