Everything Steve Sarkisian said after Texas' 38-6 win over Baylor

WACO — Here’s everything Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said following No. 3 Texas’ 38-6 Big 12 Conference win over the Baylor Bears at McLane Stadium.

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Opening statement: “First of all, just proud of our guys with the week of work and the focus that they brought into the stadium tonight. They came ready to play. We had been talking about how much we had finished the last couple of weeks and we wanted to start really well. I think obviously, defense we really set the tone. I think we had three sacks right there early on in the first couple of drives to create some really good field position. I thought our red zone defense was really incredible tonight. I think they were inside the red area five times and came away with two field goals.

Offensively, it felt really good because we got back to being explosive. It wasn’t just the passing game, we got some explosive runs right off the bat with Jonathon Brooks — the long touchdown run right there. We found different people to create explosive plays. (Ja’Tavion Sanders), another 100-yard game with explosive plays. Johntay (Cook) with a really big play on third and long there. I thought Quinn (Ewers) was efficient, we ran the ball well. Obviously there’s always room for improvement everywhere we look. Tonight, it happened to be on (special) teams. We muffed three kicks: two punts and one kickoff. You get back to it. Those are three really reliable guys for us.

We’ve just got to make sure we continue to work. As I touched on with the players, championship teams get better during the season. I thought we got better this week and we got better tonight. We played better football, but we still have room for improvement for things we need to work on and will work on because the games are only going to get more and more difficult as we move forward.”

On what was working to create the fast start: “It’s like anything. It’s execution. Part of that was having poise on the road. We were really clean at the line of scrimmage until late there when we were going to go for it on fourth down. I thought our guys were just really poised. They were communicating really well on the field. I thought they were taking in really good information from us on the sideline, and then they were applying it on the field. Ultimately when we had opportunities, we took advantage of it. When we blocked the run, the runners were going where they were supposed to go. When we were throwing the ball and we were creating some one-on-ones, Quinn was taking advantage of it. He used his legs again tonight. I just think early on, it came down to execution and executing the plan.”

On tight ends and backs and being extremely multiple and how that gives him options as a play-caller: “I’ve said it all along. We’re at our best when the more we can do really well, the tougher we are to defend. We never want to be a one-dimensional team. We want to really be versatile on offense, whether it’s the style of runs, the personnel groupings, the formations, the motions, the shifts, and I credit our coaches and I credit our players. We don’t go into games with just simple, simple game plans and simple formations. We tax our guys because we know it’s going to tax our opponents if we execute it right.

They do a really good job in their preparation to get ready for a ball game. I felt good this morning in our walkthrough. They were really dialed in to what we wanted to do. It is helpful when you can use a multitude of personnel groupings and still formation people and do different things. Hopefully it creates some issues for our opponent. Ultimately we can get back to doing what we do and that’s just getting down to execution.”

On if the win was businesslike and if that indicates maturity among his players: “That’s a great way of saying it. I had to remind the guys ‘let’s not take winning for granted.’ It was almost like ‘okay, let’s get ready for Kansas.’ They do have a great mentality right now, but like I said to them in the locker room we have a bunch of guys who endured 5-7 a couple of years ago, that came into this stadium and lost a really tough ballgame. I wanted to make sure that we appreciate these wins. Going on the road in a hostile environment at night, blackout game, and our guys just showed such great composure. It was very businesslike. It was, this is what we came here to do. Let’s go do it. Then, okay, the game is over. Let’s get ready for next week. I want to make sure we appreciate these wins. These are tough wins to get on the road in conference play. To kick off conference play 1-0, that’s a big deal.”

On the depth at defensive line that makes it five-deep: “It’s huge. We rotated a lot of guys tonight on defense again. That’s a credit to the defensive staff of getting all those guys ready, the defensive front most notably. David Gbenda played well to go along with Anthony Hill (who) had a really good game. Derek Williams was in there and had a couple of really nice third-down stops. Playing multiple people is going to be beneficial for us, not only in game but for the long haul. The fact that we can do that up front, that’s huge that our guys can be fresh when they’re in there and they can make plays in critical moments.”

On Ja’Tavion Sanders’ five-catch, 110-yard game: “We don’t think like that. It wasn’t something predicated off the week before. Every game plan, every game takes on a life of it’s own. We call plays, and a lot of times the defense dictates where the ball is going to go if the quarterback reads it properly. The ball went his way today. Gunnar (Helm) at tight end as well, both those guys made some nice plays for us. The beauty of our group right now, I think they love the fact that multiple people are making plays. I think they love that Johntay made a really big play down the middle, and that Gunnar made some plays, and that Jonathon is running the way he is then Cedric (Baxter) came in and did his thing, then Jaydon Blue came in at the end and did his thing. AD Mitchell had some plays early on. The ball is getting spread around. Next week, I don’t know who will end up being what you want to call the featured guy. What I do know is we have a guy or two on our team — Xavier (Worthy) most notably — who garners a lot of attention. When that happens, the other guy’s got to make those plays. The quarterback has got to find those guys predicated off the coverage. I think we’re doing that well. That’s what I was hoping coming into the season, that we were going to have an array of players and an arsenal to where if you really wanted to take No. 1 out of the game, these other guys can hurt you. I think that’s shown up, especially in our two road games. I go back to Alabama in the fourth quarter when AD makes two big plays, Ja’Tavion makes two big plays there. If you want to double (Worthy), these other guys hopefully can hurt you and continue to hurt teams down the road.”

On the stout defense: “I just think we’re pretty good. It’s been three years in the making of putting a staff together, putting a scheme together, making adjustments to that scheme from year one to year two and now year two to year three. I think we’ve added depth to that roster on the defensive side of the ball on all three levels. I think we have really good veteran leadership on defense from front to back. Then what comes with that is confidence. Our offense and defense, we do a lot of good on good. They have to defend us every day in practice and throughout training camp. There probably wasn’t many days where I went into a press conference in training camp and I didn’t say ‘our defense had a really good day today’ (or) that ‘our front had a really good day today.’ They’re pretty good. I think we can be better. That’s the beauty of it. We gave up a couple of deep balls tonight that we knew was a point of emphasis, so we’ve got to get that cleaned up. I did love their resiliency, especially in the low red in getting those stops tonight.”

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On defending the end zone and keeping the Bears out of it: “I think there’s some mental fortitude that goes into it. Just give us one more snap, and let’s keep them out of the end zone. We do a thing called red zone lockout that our team on offense and defense takes a lot of pride in. It’s a competition, good on good, and when teams get down there you can hear our players on the field saying red zone lockout. They just take practice right to the game. I think there’s a lot of trust in our defense that the calls are going to come in and they can execute it. Ultimately, we’ve been doing that all year though. We’ve played really good red zone defense all year. I think tonight was another example of that, especially when you have a turnover. You muff a punt and they get the ball short field, and you can step up and play defense like that? That’s a huge bonus for us.”

On Kansas, next week’s opponent: “I love the challenge. That’s why we play. I’m fired up to be back home. I know it’s not a night game, but man, the last time we were in DKR it was an awesome environment. Looking forward to seeing our fans. It should be electric Saturday at 2:30. Kansas is a very good team. Really, really versatile offense. Jalon Daniels is a heck of a quarterback. They’ve got a lot of experience on the defensive side of the ball and we’re going to need a good week of preparation to get ready to play that team.”