Texas hopes to prove it learned from 2021, then leave it in the rearview

Anyone who has paid attention to Texas football knows the three words that have beleaguered Longhorn fans since the end of last season: “five and seven.” Nothing is going to change what happened in 2021, another disappointing year for the historic program in a decade filled with them.

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But Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is a person who focuses on the future. He has a quote he often uses with his team that says a car’s front windshield is a lot bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason. On Monday, he illustrated why he believes it is so important to keep both eyes looking forward.

“We keep the focus on the windshield,” Sarkisian said. “If I keep looking back at 5-7, I’m going to run into a tree at some point. We try to keep our focus ahead of us. I try not to belabor the point of what happened a year ago. They hear it enough.”

The Longhorns don’t intend to look back at the 5-7 season, but they believe they’ve made marked improvements since the end of a 22-17 win over Kansas State in the areas that needed addressing. There’s been a winter conditioning period, 15 spring practices, summer workouts led by coaches and players, and a full month of preseason training camp. Louisiana-Monroe comes to town on Saturday, and the Longhorns are ready to prove things have changed since last year.

“We’ve completely revolutionized this team in the last two years while Sark has been here,” defensive tackle Moro Ojomo said.

“It’s a new year, new us, new team,” said fellow D-lineman Keondre Coburn.

Star running back Bijan Robinson put it this way: “We don’t have to wait anymore. I’m just ready to go show what we’ve been working on this whole offseason.”

The Longhorns have plenty of motivation to take advantage of the 12 games ahead of them, beginning on Saturday. Though those outside the locker room might look past the Warhawks, who head to Austin as 38-point underdogs, those inside the locker room are doing no such thing.

“We’re guaranteed 12 games,” Ojomo said. “These are the most important games. ULM is the most important game right now.”

Ever since college football talking season began, the main storylines surrounding the Longhorns have revolved around the attempted cultural overhaul and whether the defense will improve in year two under defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski.

The cultural overhaul process involved weekly periods throughout the offseason strictly with culture-building in mind. Rather than only knowing the name of the people around them, Sarkisian wanted his team to actually know the person they suited up with, their backstory, their successes and struggles in order to create a stronger bond between teammates. His rationale being, it’s harder to let people down who you actually know. In a moment of honesty, Sarkisian said that was not something he did well entering his first year.

But entering 2022, players think they have made that into a team strength.

“I think we’ve bonded so much more,” Ojomo said. “We spent some time with team culture-building, and I think that’s been huge for us.”

It should help in close-game situations, where Texas often failed in 2021.

“It was a grind last year, but now that we understood what that was and what that felt like during that time, we never want to feel that again,” Robinson said. “We came together real close as a team this offseason to make sure that never happens again.”

When it comes to the defense, any position group could be labeled as needing improvement. Sarkisian and his players believe they’ve made progress ahead of year two in Kwiatkowski’s system. Cultural improvement was offered as one reason behind the advancement, but there was an important on-field aspect that was referenced on Monday.

“I feel like we’re playing as one,” Sarkisian said. “We’re not playing as 11 individuals, but we’re actually playing as one. I think there’s been really good communication.”

Improvement in all those areas would obviously help a team that finished last year under .500. It’s why Sarkisian mentioned he and the rest of his staff celebrated “small victories” in the offseason, with the belief that enough small victories turn in to bigger victories.

But those bigger victories now have to come against opposing teams, schemes, and coaches. 5-7 isn’t the motivational technique Sarkisian is using to gain those victories. He doesn’t see the need to browbeat his team over that. Of course, over half the team is made up of new faces who weren’t responsible for that record.

Those new players joined returners in looking forward to the new year and not back at 2021. Or put another way, through the front windshield as opposed to the rearview mirror.

“Saturday, we get one of those chances,” Sarkisian said. “We don’t want that to go by. We’re going to make sure we’re dialed in, ready to rock and roll, playing hard, playing tough, playing fast, playing physical football.”