LIVE UPDATES: Steve Sarkisian's Alabama game week press conference

After the Texas Longhorns opened the 2022 season with a dominating win over the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks, Steve Sarkisian’s program welcomes Nick Saban and the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide to Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium. The SEC program is making the trek to Austin for the first time since 1922 for Saturday’s 11 a.m. matchup.

[Get a FREE 7-day trial of Inside Texas Plus]

Sarkisian will step to the mic at 11:30 a.m. It will be carried live on Longhorn Network, TexasSports.com, and The Horn FM.

Updates from Steve Sarkisian

Sarkisian: “I think one, we got a chance to play 76 guys in the game Saturday night, which is tremendous, the fact that so many guys got an opportunity to play.” – Mentions 28 of the 35 new scholarship players were able to play.

Sarkisian: “Clearly, in the kicking game, the mishaps in the snaps have got to get cleaned up, which I think we will handle that.”

Sarkisian: “I thought our effort was great. I thought we defended the run really well. Fantastic job (on) first and goal from the two to hold them to a field goal, then obviously any time you score on defense, that was great.”

Sarkisian: “As far as this ballgame goes, another great challenge. Very good football team, very well coached. Good teams, good players, good schemes, but ultimately this is about us and our ability to prepare, our ability to practice really well, our ability to focus on what we need to do to play to the best of our ability.”

Sarkisian: “The best approach is to focus on what you need to do. At the end of the day, they’re going to have 11, we’re going to have 11, and the ball is going to get snapped.”

Sarkisian echoes his respect for Nick Saban, not only as a coach but as a man. Says he is able to scheme well, motivate his team, and get them ready to play.

Sarkisian on his message to the team: “I think the biggest thing for us is to be enamored with us.” – Says there’s a lot to get caught up with like GameDay, Fox, etc., but “we need to be enamored with us, focused on us, making sure that we’re doing the things necessary for us to do our job really well.”

Sarkisian looking back on when his Washington team upset No. 3 USC: “Very similar scenario. I worked for Pete Carroll for 7 years and had a great respect for what he did and what we were able to do in our time there. I think it was buying into the idea of what the gameplan was, and where we needed to be from a psyche standpoint.” — “Buying into the idea that the work that you put in throughout the week ultimately will carry to gameday.”

Sarkisian on Will Anderson and the Crimson Tide front seven: “They’re big, especially on the interior, and they’ve got a lot of people they can play on the interior. A lot of times, the run game gets pushed to the perimeter because they do a good job internally.” — Says Dallas Turner, Chris Braswell, and Will Anderson are all three “very athletic players” with big motors, and all have the ability to win 1on1 pass rush opportunities.”

Sarkisian on playing against Bama DC Pete Golding: “It’s always fun to compete against friends.” — Says they have to be careful about overthinking things against a DC that knows him so well. “It’s like being a pitcher, sometimes you’ve got to throw your best pitch.”

Sarkisian says Quinn Ewers played pretty well: “Very rarely did I feel like the ball did not go to the right spot,” but adds the vertical passing game has to come to life.

Sarkisian on Quinn Ewers’ car, with a laugh: “He’s got to park where he’s supposed to park. He wasn’t where he was supposed to be parking on gameday.”

Sarkisian: “This gameplan was probably done about three months ago, and I’m sure their gameplan was done probably three months ago. I don’t think either of us thought going into week 1 we were going to see something new that was drastically going to change what we wanted to do.”

Sarkisian on Bryce Young: “Proud of him and all that he’s accomplished in his time at Alabama. Heck of a player. He’s got a natural instinct of passing the football. He can feel things happen, and has a natural understanding of route combinations based on coverages, and he’s willing to cut it loose. On top of that, he’s very elusive.” — “A lot of things we talk about with Quinn, Bryce possesses a lot of those same characteristics.”

Sarkisian calls Bama a “pass first offense” in large part because of Alabama’s trust in Bryce Youngs’ ability.

Sarkisian admits he didn’t think his team was mentally prepared for Arkansas last year. “Last year, I think that we’re in a little different space as a program. I feel like our style of play is different this year than it was a year ago, and not just on game day but the way we practice.”

Sarkisian says discipline is one of the biggest things he learned from Nick Saban: “His expectation is his staff and his players are going to have the same disciplined approach on and off the field. It starts with him. He practices what he preaches, then there’s a standard and expectation of what’s expected of you, and how you go about your business.”

Sarkisian looking back on the 2009 national championship game: “Honestly, I have no idea where I was. I’m not sure if I watched it.” — “I think we all wish… if Colt was in the game, what would have happened?”

Sarkisian: “I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is this is going to be the game that is going to define our program. It might. It might not. I’m not that concerned about it. I’m more concerned about just the way we play the game. All along, my goal is to be in Dallas on December 3. This game has no impact on that.” –“I want to play really well. I want to make sure that our guys play our style of football, our brand of football and do it the way I know we’re capable of doing it.”

Sarkisian: “Lane used to get it pretty good. I don’t mind saying that. Lane’s been a good friend of mine. There’s a couple of vividly remember. I was in the press box looking down and there was a lot of *gestures* goin on. I got it too. I think that shaped us.”