Molded by the darkness: Embracing the hate in the Big 12 has helped Texas thrive in the SEC
Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns’ ability to embrace hostile road environments and suck the life out of opposing crowds has been something to behold—especially when they silence SEC stadiums in College Station, Fayetteville, and Tuscaloosa. Sarkisian’s quote on College Gameday on Saturday reflected the team’s mindset when it goes on the road.
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“You need to embrace the hate,” Sarkisian said. “It needs to fuel you, and it’s okay to be the villain. We’re the villain in this movie this week.”
That quote reminded me of what Bane said to Batman in The Dark Knight Rises: “You think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it.”
Walking into a hate-filled atmosphere like Kyle Field is nothing new for Texas; they’ve been doing it for years. Texas adopted the black hat during the end of its time in the Big 12 and is still wearing it proudly.
Last Saturday’s 17-7 win over the Aggies at Kyle Field was just the latest example of something Texas began in the Big 12. The College GameDay crew laughed when a heckler shouted the Longhorns had “no idea” what they were walking into in College Station, but they did. They’ve been walking into those kind of environments for years now. When Texas announced it was leaving its former teammates in 2021, it didn’t receive pats on the back or tribute videos—it was met with three seasons worth of hate from crowds who didn’t know if they were seeing the icy whites in their stadium for the last time.
Texas crumbled under the test at first, losing four of its five road games in Sarkisian’s first season. The 2022 campaign didn’t look much better, starting 0-2 on the road after losses in Lubbock and Stillwater. Since then? Texas has finally embraced the hate and is now undefeated in true road games. It’s a testament to how Sarkisian has gotten the team to embrace the role of the villain, but it’s also another feather in the cap of Quinn Ewers, who has lost just one true road game as the Texas starting quarterback.
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“They kind of embrace and get fueled by the boos and the crowd noise on the road,” Sarkisian said at his Monday press conference, explaining why the team has been so successful on the road. “When you’re on offense, you have to really focus, and sometimes that helps us focus even better.”
It’s not just a redemption game for Sarkisian and Ewers after the October loss, but the Longhorns are walking into what will essentially be a road game on Saturday in Atlanta as they face off against Kirby Smart and Georgia once again. The Bulldogs have won at Mercedes-Benz Stadium many times and will expect to beat the Longhorns once more. Smart channeled his own version of “embrace the hate” when he got his team to buy into a “nobody believes in us” narrative en route to a crushing 30-15 victory in Austin.
This time, Smart will bang a similar drum about not letting a newcomer like Texas come to the Bulldogs’ home state and win their conference in the Longhorns’ first SEC season. Like winning the last Big 12 Championship, this will be another opportunity for Texas to upend a conference, especially the old guard of the SEC. To do it, they’ll need to don the black hat once again and embrace the hate that comes with it.
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Texas should be ready for the darkness that awaits. After all, they were molded by it years ago. The Longhorns have been living in it ever since.
