Steve Sarkisian: Longhorns focused on themselves as they prepare for Alabama
One of the biggest periods for growth for a football team is the week after its opening game, when the rubber has finally hit the road and the realization of what needs to be addressed and who needs to improve show themselves on game film.
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For Texas, that transition and period of improvement comes as it prepares to play at No. 4 Alabama, a team that needs no introduction.
Yes, the Longhorns (1-0) took care of business in a 37-10 season-opening win over Rice at home on Sept. 2 but this week’s trip to Tuscaloosa is a whole different ballgame – with the national spotlight burning bright and expectations at a fever pitch.
The preparation for the Crimson Tide (1-0) adds a degree of difficulty to the week-1-to-week-2 growth cycle for Texas, but Longhorns’ coach Steve Sarkisian said the team will balance that with a focus on themselves, a mantra that the coach will use for every opponent, not just Alabama.
“We balanced it by staying focused on what we need to do,” Sarkisian said Monday at his media availability. “One of the things in these games that people always want us to talk about is the opponent, and we got a good opponent we understand that. They’re well coached, they’re a good team.
“But for us to be at our best we need to focus on what we need to do, not worry so much about what they’re going to do or they might do. What are we going to do and how are we gonna go about our business?”
Sarkisian explained that in order for the Longhorns to “handle their business” they need to fix the issues that they had in the win over Rice.
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“Then we can pour into us even more to get ourselves ready to play,” he said. “So that side of it is not that difficult. When you continue to speak that way to the players, they understand that that idea is not going to change. If it’s Alabama one week or Rice the next week or whomever years down the road, we want to be consistent in our messaging. Then it becomes normal for them.”
Sarkisian said he felt like the Texas players excelled in that message in practice Monday, which was conducted inside DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium.
“You know, they understand – they want to be coached,” he said. “They’re coachable team, they want to improve. They want to (address) their mistakes and find out how can they improve, whether it’s a fundamental mistake or a scheme mistake. And then how can they improve that to be even a better player?
“And I think our coaches do a good job of trying to illustrate that to them. And so that’s what I saw today – that they were dialed in, in meetings, and they went out to walkthrough and into practice with a mentality to try to get better.”
The Longhorns’ matchup with Alabama kicks off Saturday at 6 p.m. on ABC.
