Steve Sarkisian on College GameDay: "The key to the drill is we've got to get the ball in the paint."
During a Saturday morning appearance on College GameDay, Nick Saban told Steve Sarkisian he felt that the Longhorn offense was great at finding yards but struggled to find points once it reached the red zone.
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Sarkisian agreed, saying he believed the College Football Playoff game versus Clemson would come down to that part of the game.
“I think just recalibrate when we hit the red area, coach,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve stubbed our toe in a variety of ways when we’ve gotten there. Penalties have hurt us. Turnovers have hurt us there. The play-call, myself, can press at times when you get there because you want to score. The reality of it is, we’re moving the ball really well but the key to the drill is we’ve got to get the ball in the paint. I think tonight is going to come down to our ability to execute when we get those opportunities.”
Texas is No. 46 in the nation in terms of touchdown percentage across its 59 red zone trips. The Longhorns put six points on the board 66% of the time, but has struggled inside the red zone in recent weeks.
Here’s more from Sark from his College GameDay appearance.
On the atmosphere: “I thought just watching that ball game last night, seeing the atmosphere, it was electric. It felt like Playoff football. I expect it to be the same way here at DKR today. I know Longhorn Nation is super excited. I know our team is excited. We’ve had two weeks now to prepare. I know Dabo (Swinney) is going to have Clemson ready to go so it should be a heck of a ballgame.”
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On Clemson’s offense: Sarkisian mentioned the balance that Clemson brings in its Cade Klubnik led offense. He acknowledged Phil Mafah’s ability to run the ball, the designed QB run game, RPOs, and the vertical passing game. He also mentioned the need to watch Klubnik on scrambles.
“I think it’s going to be really critical that we do a great job with our gap integrity in the run game,” Sarkisian said. “I think the second part is we’ve got to have great eye control in the back end. Then the third piece, which is going to be critical, is rush lanes. We’ve got to minimize him getting outside the pocket and creating those explosive plays.
On Andrew Mukuba: “I think the one thing that Andrew provides is a lot of veteran leadership. He’s got a ton of experience. You could tell he was coached extremely well at Clemson. It was an opportunity for him to come home. He’s really good friends with Jahdae Barron, two guys that grew up together. He, Jahdae, Michael Taaffe, all from the Austin area. He’s a really versatile guy. He can play zone coverage. He can play man coverage. He’s a physical presence as you can tell. He’s a ball hawk. He does a great job of understanding zone coverages and getting underneath routes, creating interceptions. We’re going to need his experience today to go along with Jahdae, Taaffe, Manny Muhammad. That back end is going to have to have a big game today.”
On Ryan Wingo: “He’s a big, physical guy who has real long speed. He’s made big plays for us this season, so now he’s just going to get more snaps. He’s going to get more opportunities. We feel good about Ryan being in there. He’s a different player than Isaiah (Bond) is, yet I still think an explosive player.”
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Texas and Clemson will kick off at 3 p.m. TNT will televise the game, and it will stream on MAX.
