LIVE UPDATES: Steve Sarkisian and Kalen DeBoer speak to the media one final time before Monday's Sugar Bowl

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer will be available to the media Sunday morning for one final preview of Monday’s matchup in the Allstate Sugar Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff.

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

Follow along for updates

Kalen DeBoer: “Enjoying the moment that comes along with being in this position. Proud of the way our guys have handled the work, whether it be before we got here or once we arrived. Ready to play.”

Steve Sarkisian: “This has been a lot this month, so it’s finally fun to be a day away from the ballgame. I know our players are excited to play the game. They’re looking forward to it. They feel like they’ve earned this opportunity to be in this position and they’re excited for it.”

Steve Sarkisian: “What a setting for college football. Prime time, Monday night, with all eyes on us.”

Steve Sarkisian: “To get to this stage in a season is really hard to do. There’s only four of us left. The four teams left are all very good football teams. There’s probably another six or seven teams saying ‘we should be in that position. Watch what we would have done.’ Like I’m saying, I think ourselves and the University of Washington, we’ve earned the right to be in this ballgame and it’s an unbelievable opportunity. Not just for this season, but I think for anybody throughout their career.”

Steve Sarkisian on how he gets ready for the game: “I get dialed in by being around our players, being around our coaches, finding my own rhythm and my own routine. I’m not the guy that wakes up at four in the morning and goes on a 10 mile run. I can promise you that, just look at me.”

Kalen DeBoer says he hopes that if someone asked their players what the main philosophy of his program was, he’d hope that they’d say it was a player-led program.

Steve Sarkisian says he hopes his players would take pride in their culture and also speak to the standard they are asked to perform to.

Kalen DeBoer mentions Washington has nine sixth-year seniors within his program, notably quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

Steve Sarkisian says they have tried to “compartmentalize the month.” He mentions he wanted to give his teams time to recover, time to finish finals, and some moments away from the coaches and staff before returning after Christmas to start diving into the Washington gameplan.

Texas HC Steve Sarkisian on Kalen DeBoer’s system: “Excellent schemes and they tax you a lot of ways, from the run game, the precision passing game, to play action pass down the field shots, to the trick plays. I think that’s the sign of a really good coach, that he’s got versatility to their scheme.”

Steve Sarkisian says he has a hard time envisioning being able to balance recruiting, portal conversations, coaching carousel tasks, and prep for a playoff game: “I’m hopeful people that are a lot smarter than me can figure out a calendar that best suits what college football is today.”

Steve Sarkisian: “One thing that gets lost when you watch Washington, everyone wants to talk Michael Penix, the receivers, the high flying explosive plays. This is a physical team. I think the level of physicality in which we play the game is important in this ballgame.”

Kalen DeBoer: “I hope our guys trust and believe in the preparation they’ve had. There should be a few butterflies, more of an excitement to get to kickoff. I think having done this for so many years, that first snap and first play (happens) then you kick into coach mode, player mode, and you’re back doing to what you’ve done for hundreds of games.”

Steve Sarkisian: “When you take a moment to reflect like I’m doing right now, you think back to that moment when you don’t have a job, you can’t get an interview, and you’re just trying to get back into the profession, never mind thinking about being here with an opportunity to go play for a national championship.”

Kalen DeBoer on how his team has changed since last year: “I think probably another year of being in both offensive and defensive systems, special teams as well.”

Steve Sarkisian says the maturity of his team has improved: “A year ago, we were relying on two or three leaders to lead… As they moved on, there was a group of guys that really had to step up and I credit them because they’ve done it.”

Steve Sarkisian on some of his players saying the 2022 loss to Alabama was the moment they began to believe: “To play them the way that we played them, I think for the players it was an a-ha moment in everything coach is talking about we actually are capable of.”