LIVE UPDATES: Steve Sarkisian previews Houston, talks bye week events in Monday press conference

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will be available to the media just after 11 a.m. to talk about progress made over the course of the bye week and preview the Longhorns’ upcoming matchup with the Houston Cougars.

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The press conference will be aired on Longhorn Network and TexasSports.com

Updates from Steve Sarkisian

Steve Sarkisian: “I think the bye week was very good for us to hone in on some of the areas where we want to improve as a team, we had some guys who were a little banged up after the first half of the season so to get them as healthy as we could get them that week I think was good, (then) I think for a lot of our younger players that were really highly competitive throughout training camp and the first part of the season then had been on the scout team there for a couple of weeks, to refuel their competitive spirit and do a lot of their work competitively I thought was great to see.”

Steve Sarkisian says Houston has a familiar quarterback in Donovan Smith, who led the Red Raiders to a win over Texas last year, in addition to great WRs and an active defensive front. “I think one thing I’ve been impressed with with Coach Holgorsen’s team is how they’ve improved throughout the year.”

Steve Sarkisian: “I think one thing that sometimes I take for granted is we’re moving the ball at a really high clip offensively right now with our average yards per play and the efficiency with which we’re doing it.” — Sarkisian notes he’s seen efficiency on fourth down and mentions it as something they can lean into more to “take advantage of that because I do think we’re executing at a high level.”

Steve Sarkisian said injured players like Jake Majors, Ja'Tavion Sanders, Ryan Watts and others unmentioned all practiced today.

He also said Cole Hutson was more limited than the others, but he was able to go today.

Sarkisian: "As the week goes on, I'll have a cleaner update…

— Inside Texas (@InsideTexas) October 16, 2023

Steve Sarkisian: “Naturally, as I look at ourselves defensively, an area I know we can improve is we’ve got to take the ball off people more and we’ve got to attempt to take the ball off people more.”

Steve Sarkisian: “I think we can be even more effective on special teams. We’re constantly trying to push our guys, but to push our players we have to push our staff. Our staff’s got to keep working towards those things as well.”

Steve Sarkisian on Savion Red: “To find a niche for him in some of the short yardage running he was able to do, I thought was very effective. Hopefully there’s more opportunities that present themselves in the second half of the season.”

Steve Sarkisian says his second and third teamers are in a search for more consistency more so than frontline players. Sarkisian said he emphasized with those players that a level of consistency was what was needed to move up the depth chart.

Steve Sarkisian on Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning: “I think Maalik and Arch have continued to grow systematically in a real sense of understanding of what we’re doing.” — Sarkisian mentions that several weeks ago he said Manning had his best practice since he’s been here. — “There’s been great intent in that room with those guys working hard and working with Coach Milwee to take their game to another level because there’s going to come a time — knock on wood – when they’re number is going to get called and we’re going to need them to play a high level of football to win a game.”

Steve Sarkisian said practice was highly competitive last week but it featured more twos and threes than first-string players.

Steve Sarkisian said he watched the Houston vs. West Virginia game with Jeff Banks while on the recruiting trail. “Ironically, it felt a lot like our games two weeks ago. West Virginia scored with 12 seconds. Fortunately for Houston, they got the unsportsmanlike conduct foul and got the kickoff moved back. Then it came down to the Hail Mary from the 45 and the ball was able to bounce to them.” — “I think the lesson learned is you’ve got to play all 60 minutes until that last tick off the clock.”

Steve Sarkisian on two-minute defense, says his team needs to improve tackling in the final stretch, zone dropping correctly, and keeping pass-rush lanes clean. He also mentioned communication needs to be on point.

Steve Sarkisian on red zone offense: “We have to game plan better and we have to execute better. There’s no secret sauce to this deal. I think our players buy in and trust and believe in what we do. Clearly it shows when we create explosive plays and we can execute.”

Steve Sarkisian: “If we want to be a complete offense in the second half of the season we’ve got to run it, we’ve got to play-pass people, we’ve got to throw it, we’ve got to do all those things to make it really difficult to where hopefully a defensive coordinator feels like ‘man, I’ve got to pick my poison, right? How do I want this to go?’ Then we execute and we call the plays in a timely fashion and the quarterback makes good decisions and takes advantage of those things.”

Steve Sarkisian says he takes inspiration from other offensive play-callers “all the time.” Watched Washington vs. Oregon and USC vs. Notre Dame as a fan but also in order to get ideas: “It may not be the exact play but it could spurn an idea.”

Steve Sarkisian: “I think college football is as popular as it’s been in a long, long time. You can feel it in the fans. You can feel the excitement. I think this is going to be a great second half of the season in college football. I think there’s more parity now than there’s been in a long, long time, so a lot of people are probably looking at the second half of the season thinking we’ve got an opportunity to do something special. We’re no different, but everybody’s got to handle their businesses accordingly.”

Steve Sarkisian on recruiting, says there are far fewer days for coaching staffs to be on the road recruiting: “For us to be able to get out this weekend, I loved it. I love getting to games. I love watching guys compete when they’re ahead, when they’re behind, how do they warm up, and I got to see some really good football players this weekend that I’m excited that we get to continue to recruit.”

Steve Sarkisian says they practice Hail Mary’s every Friday as part of end of game scenarios. “We do teach our guys to knock that ball down in that situation. I’ve caught one Hail Mary as a coach in my career and I’ve lost a game on a Hail Mary in my career: Arizona State at USC in 2014.”