Injury updates, defending Deuce Vaughn, effective playcalling and other Updates from Steve Sarkisian's Zoom

Ahead of the No. 24 Texas Longhorns’ trip to Manhattan, Kan. to face the No. 13 Kansas State Wildcats, UT head coach Steve Sarkisian was available to the media on Thursday morning over Zoom.

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Steve Sarkisian says he was pleased with the team’s ability to hit the reset button after the bye, and that the team practiced with great energy and great intent: “I praised them today for the fourth straight day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, of just really practicing the way I think you need to practice in November.”

Injury update on Ryan Watts and Anthony Cook: “They both look pretty good to me.”

Steve Sarkisian says one of the keys to defending Deuce Vaughn is knowing where he is and that “you can’t expect one guy to get him on the ground.” — “We have to play with amazing effort, we have to populate the ball, and we have to wrap him up.”

Steve Sarkisian on the Kansas State defense: “I think they play great team defense. I think they play on a string together. I think the defensive line sets the tone. They’re very physical and they play with great effort. I think their linebackers are physical players, and I think their five DBs that they play with work well together. They’re a veteran group.” — “I just think the strength of their team is the ability to play together as one.”

When asked about helping Quinn Ewers bounce back from a bad game, Steve Sarkisian recalled his own bounce back from the 1995 season.

The week prior to the game below, he threw four picks in the Holy War vs. Utah pic.twitter.com/HFe4ZZt78d

— Joe Cook (@josephcook89) November 3, 2022

Steve Sarkisian on the K-State QBs: “The experience of Adrian Martinez, you can’t discount. Started a lot of football games, started a lot of games at Nebraska. I think he’s taken his game to another level now at Kansas State. He’s protecting the ball much better than he ever has. He’s obviously an elite runner from the quarterback position, and a more than capable passer. Will Howard, you can see his growth. Same guy started against us last year, but he’s really grown. You can see his comfort level in the pocket and his ability to push the ball down the field.”

Steve Sarkisian on playing with a lead and how it affects playcalling: “I think at the end of the day, part of being a good playcaller is calling the necessary things to win a football game. When you have a lead, I think the natural objective is, what do we need to do to win the game? Is it slow it down and squeeze clock? Does that mean we’re going to run it more? Or is it continue to attack at a really high level and try to outscore them? I think a lot of that is predicated on the style and the personality of the game that you’re in, and hopefully you’re well-versed enough offensively to do either one.”

Steve Sarkisian on if he’s had conversations about how critical winning out is if they want to reach Arlington: “I always do my best not to not talk about things that are the obvious. If there’s an elephant in the room, I try to address it. We all know what our goal is. We all know that’s where want to be December 3rd. But to get there, we have to take care of this one first. There’s an old adage in football, what you do in November is what they remember. We have an opportunity in November to do something special here.”

Steve Sarkisian admits they haven't done well on offense in sudden change possessions: "That definitely is an area that we want to capitalize on, that we can take advantage of the short field." — "Those are momentum building plays and you want to capitalize on that momentum."

— Joe Cook (@josephcook89) November 3, 2022

Steve Sarkisian on defending the middle of the field: “Oklahoma State’s style of offense is dramatically different than Kansas State’s style of offense. There’s different things that we need to try to take away in this game as opposed to the Oklahoma State game. Some of that is that, yes, especially on third down. They have a lot of other issues. They have a wide variety of run game they need to defend and they’ve got two really good outside receivers we need to defend, and a really good tight end who moves all over the field, and a versatile running back who they throw the ball to. A little different style. Generically speaking, sure, we can’t give up the in-breaking routes on third down. But these guys present a whole other set of issues than what Oklahoma State presents to us.”