Steve Sarkisian still looking for his Longhorns to create "60 minutes of hell for our opponents"

In the season opener against Colorado State, the Longhorns entered the fourth quarter leading 45-0. Similar was true at Michigan as Texas started the final 15 minutes with a 31-6 lead over the defending national champions.

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There was little Texas’ opponents could do in order to alter the impending outcome of the game at those junctures. That doesn’t mean Steve Sarkisian wanted to see his team let up or allow themselves room for error.

Colorado State tallied most of its total yardage in the second half against Longhorn second- and third-teamers. Michigan found a modicum of success in the second half against Texas after the Longhorns suffocated the Wolverines in all three phases in the first 30 minutes.

Amidst those lopsided outcomes, Sarkisian said on Monday he saw times where players needed to be more locked in and take a similar amount of pride as when they run down the field on the opening kickoff with the game 0-0.

“I want to play 60 minutes,” Sarkisian said. “I want to make it 60 minutes of hell for our opponents. We have a roster that can do that, but that’s also a mentality that we’re striving for, that we’re working towards, and I think that we can get better at. That’s definitely a point of emphasis of ours as well.”

Far too often in Sarkisian’s first three years, the Longhorns gave up opportunities to close games out. Texas was 1-6 in one-score games in 2021. They improved, barely, to 2-4 in 2022. The Longhorns got above .500 in those games in 2023, going 3-2 but with a heartbreaking loss to Washington in the College Football Playoff semifinal.

Texas hasn’t played a one-score game yet in 2024, and the players on the team know it’s on them to ensure those types of contests are few and far between.

“There’s got to be a point where you’ve got to be mature enough to know you’re up by 30 and it would take a lot of good plays for them to come back, but it’s just a matter of pride you have got to have in yourself to where it’s like you want to take your opponent’s soul,” Michael Taaffe said Monday.

Did Texas do that against Michigan?

No, thought Taaffe. “I don’t think we did that,” he said.

The Longhorns were by no means moribund in the second half but there were a handful of miscues that let Michigan find the end zone and kept Sarkisian from rotating more and more of his roster into the game, something he’s repeatedly said he’s wanted to make happen.

For that to occur against UTSA and against other opponents, Texas understands a concerted effort at putting opponents away, whether up by three or 30, is required.

“It’s always going to fall back to that because if you go into practice thinking we played hard last week, let’s take it easy? We can’t do that,” Kelvin Banks said. “You’ve got to keep the same momentum. You’ve got to keep stacking days.”

One way Sarkisian tries to minimize the types of mistakes that tighten margins or keeps opponents in games is to show his team some of the plays from around college football that cost highly-ranked teams contests. Notre Dame’s loss to Northern Illinois was the primary example this weekend. Plays that include a player dropping a football before crossing the goal line or hitting a player late are good examples of what his team might see on Friday mornings.

“I show those blunders that go on around the country, that this isn’t what we do,” Sarkisian said. “This is not Longhorn football, but you need to see what else is going on around the country and take pride in how we go about our business.

“I’m not saying we’re perfect. I’m sure we’ll make some mistakes along the way, but if I can keep showing living examples of those things I do think it’s helpful for our guys to say what’s acceptable and what’s not in our program.”

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These are the steps Texas sees as necessary ahead of games with two manageable opponents in UTSA and Louisiana-Monroe before SEC play begins. Applying those lessons against the Roadrunners and the Warhawks is something the Longhorns believe will lead to 60 minutes of hell for their adversary, something that hasn’t happened quite yet in 2024.