LIVE UPDATES: Steve Sarkisian recaps loss to Florida, looks ahead to Oklahoma

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will be available to the media at 11:30 a.m. to recap the Longhorns’ loss to Florida and look ahead to the Red River Shootout this Saturday versus Oklahoma.

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You can watch the press conference here and updates follow below.

Steve Sarkisian: “We really, when you look at it, not a very good start to the ballgame for us.” — “They possessed the ball. On the flip side offensively, we were not very good on third down in the first half and the majority of those third downs were third and 11.”

Sarkisian: “I did not think that we played well on either side of the ball on the line of scrimmage in the game. We are more than capable to perform better than that and we’re going to need to in this conference, regardless of opponent, be better at the line of scrimmage.”

Steve Sarkisian says that the punt getting blocked was “not ideal,” but also “we were close to really have some momentum changing plays controlling the vertical field position.”

Sarkisian credits his team’s fight to the end, namely the defense in forcing three punts and an interception: “That will never be questioned about our team.”

Lots of praise from Sarkisian for Brent Venables: “You can go down the line about how great they’re playing on defense right now.”

Steve Sarkisian on the O-line and potentially making changes: “We’ve got to coach better and we’ve got to play better.”

Did Sarkisian feel as if they should have gotten a portal O-lineman? – “I think you can play the hypothetical game and the what if’s. It’s what’s available and then what do you have. I think our guys that we have are more than capable. We’ve got to coach better and we’ve got to play better.”

Steve Sarkisian on how he determines the LG rotation: “Practice determines a lot of who plays and who do we feel is ready to perform. Then the flow of the game. I didn’t think Nick Brooks was going to go out there and play a perfect game the first time he’s ever played in a real game at left guard, but I think there’s traits in there, there’s ability in there, and the growth in practice in there that I think he’s got a very bright future for us. We obviously lived through some of those Saturday, but I do think he’s got a bright future.”

Sarkisian on Oklahoma's defensive line:

"They're very active up front, very athletic group with a multitude of pressures, multitude of coverages. I think they lead the SEC in about everything."

— Evan Vieth (@EvanVieth) October 6, 2025

Getting ahead of the sticks is something Sarkisian has emphasized several times: “When you play 3rd and 9+ football, the percentages over time tell you your odds of converting a first down go down dramatically. We’ve got to do a better job of putting ourselves in manageable 3rd down situations. Everybody plays a part in that, myself, our coaches, the playcalling, our execution on first and second down, to minimizing and eliminating some of the self-inflicted wounds and penalties.”

Steve Sarkisian: “I don’t love that there’s some noise around how we’re playing, but that’s the reality of the situation. That’s what we signed up to do. All that being said, we’ve got to focus on us and we need to be enamored with what we need to do from a preparation standpoint, an execution standpoint, a gameplan standpoint, being intentional with our practice habits, things of that nature. So you lean into some of the veteran players who have been through this week before, who know what this week is about, and push your younger players or your new players that maybe have transferred into this of how we go about our business because it’s a great game.”

Steve Sarkisian: “We’ll plan for Mateer. We have to. He’s a dynamic player. He’s the heartbeat of that offense. Everything goes through him. We played against Hawkins last year. He’s a much improved player. Like most young players, they get better over time. You can see his improvement for sure. Coach Arbuckle has a great scheme that we’ve got to prepare for. He’s a fantastic coach. They tax you a lot of different ways with varying tempos, formations, trick plays, quarterback runs, shot plays. So we’ve got to prepare for the offense as much as we need to prepare for the quarterback, whichever one it’s going to be. It’s more about the offense in our world.”

Sarkisian on the run game:

"It's not working, that's for sure."

— Evan Vieth (@EvanVieth) October 6, 2025

Sarkisian on Malik Muhammad: “It was a major loss. You’re losing an All-American caliber player at corner.” — Sarkisian said they tried to use split safety looks but Florida’s ability to run the ball forced them to bring a safety down and the Gators took advantage.

Sarkisian on Malik Muhammad: “We’ll find out if he can go Saturday. We don’t know yet. He’s working his tail off to try to et back. We’ll see what happens.”

Sarkisian on Arch Manning: “I found out he’s a tough dude. He fought his ass off Saturday. Those were not ideal conditions for a quarterback to perform under. Is there a couple of throws he’d love to have back? Of course, but he stood in there and he showed a lot of contact courage taking hits, delivering the ball. There were some really impressive throws in there and he battled until the very end. I think he learned about himself as much as we learned about him. This guy’s got a lot of courage, he’s got a lot of toughness. I think he gained a lot of respect from his teammates, which is a great thing.”

Steve Sarkisian: “If I want our players to act a certain way, I surely better model that.”

Steve Sarkisian on how he’s seen players react to a test of his culture: “I’ll be able to answer that better later in the week. Probably wouldn’t be fair to these guys to say our culture is perfect right now because they’re all trying to do the right things. They were great today. They came in, they were coachable. They took to the tough coaching from Saturday. We went through our good, bad, and ugly. They came out energized. They practiced really well today. I called up the the team when that was done. I know the offensive players got together and they called it up, and their mindset is all there. That tells me the culture is right. At the end of the day, we’ve got to play better as a team Saturday.”

Texas LB Liona Lefau: “We definitely didn’t play to our standard. There was some leakage in our run defense and we didn’t execute as well as we wanted to in our pass defense.” — “We’re excited because there’s a lot of room for improvement for us.”

Liona Lefau: “If there was one positive from the game that we took away, we did a good job at the end of trying to fight our way back into it.”

Liona Lefau on not having Malik Muhammad: “We try not to focus on that too much. He’s a great player. Obviously, we missed his presence in the pass defense and in the run defense.”

Anthony Hill: “With Red River, you really never know what to expect.”

Anthony Hill: “I feel like we erased this game on Monday and we’re getting ready to execute and get ready for this game this week.”

Liona Lefau on Michael Hawkins’ performance last year in Red River: “He was good on his feet, keeping plays alive. The whole offense runs through him. He did a good job of extending plays.”

Hero Kanu says when he came to the United States, the three rivalries he was quickly made aware of were Michigan-Ohio State, the Iron Bowl, and the Red River Shootout: “It’s actually a blessing to be able to play in two of those at least.”

Hero Kanu: “We’ve got to start off fast. That’s known now. We can’t allow mistakes like that to happen from the very beginning.”

Hero Kanu: “Everything we want is still there. This is the SEC and you see it all across the country. Last year, Texas was 7-1 with one loss and they still made it. Everything we want is still there.”

Hero Kanu: “You’re never going to feel great after a loss, but it’s a time where you’ve got to come together, lean on your teammates, lean on the people you love, lean on the ones you hold close, and have that bond.” — “When you hit adversity, you’re going to come back closer.”

Ryan Wingo: “I think it’s always a little hard to put those losses behind you, but we’ve got a big rivalry coming up. We’ve got to burn it as quickly as possible to get ready for this next game. We’ve got OU.”

Ryan Wingo: “I think our season is on the line every Saturday.”

Ryan Wingo on his missed pass against Florida: “It was on me. I’ve got to give him a better ball and it would have been a walk-in touchdown.”

Michael Taaffe: “Malik is a really good player and one of my really good buddies. I’m always a big advocate of who you’ve got is enough. It’s never Malik is not playing, we’re screwed. It’s more next guy up.” — “If we don’t have him, dang it, get healthy. Then it’s next guy up.”

Michael Taaffe: “I didn’t even know we were unranked.”

Michael Taaffe: “There’s no other feeling in college football like the Red River Rivalry.”

Texas RB Quintrevion Wisner: “I feel good coming back in the first week back.”

How can the RBs help the run game? Wisner: “I feel like I could have slowed down. When things start hitting the fan, you tend to start speeding up your details. I feel like I could have taken what was given to me.”

Trevor Goosby on the three guys rotating at LG: “I have great relationships with all three. When they’re on the field, we’ll still all be able to work as a duo and as a tandem.”

Trevor Goosby on the OU front: “They’re an amazing defense. They have some really stout guys. They move a lot. They’re super disruptive. They want to try to cause chaos a lot of times. The key to that is making sure our feet and eyes are good, and our own knowledge of the offense.”

Trevor Goosby: “Playing in such a big game, it’s going to be an intense game. I love the intensity of this game and what each team brings to it. It’s going to be awesome.”

Arch Manning: “I feel like we’ve got a good team that battles. I have respect for all our guys for battling back. That is just part of playing quarterback and playing football, taking hits and getting up like a champ. I’m just following their lead.”

Arch Manning: “All of it is fixable. We have a talented group. We’re young. We’re going to get better each week, and we’re going to be a tough team to beat.”

Arch Manning: “This game is really unique. A lot of guys go to OU to play Texas in this game. A lot of guys go to Texas to play in this game.”