The past looms in Steve Sarkisian's first matchup with Gary Patterson

As Texas heads to Fort Worth to face the TCU Horned Frogs, the specter of seven losses in nine Big 12 games versus a Gary Patterson-coached team looms over the Longhorn program. UT head coach Steve Sarkisian even called his program’s 2-7 record versus the Horned Frogs “the elephant in the room” during his Monday press conference.

Sarkisian can’t undo the results of the past. Texas is not playing against the 2014 TCU squad that topped Texas 48-10, or the 2016 team who again rode into Austin and left with a 31-9 victory that officially ended the Charlie Strong era. The same applies to the 2017 and 2020 teams who could not evade purple misery.

But what Sarkisian can draw from those results is something accepted and propagated throughout the college football community; Gary Patterson can coach defense and get his team to play tough.

“I think they do a heck of a job getting themselves in the right call,” Sarkisian said Monday. “They challenge you off the edges with the corner blitzes or the nickel blitzes from the field. They’re disruptive up front. They generally have really good edge rushers, like they do this year, applying pressure on the quarterback and then matching your routes on the back end.”

Texas offensive play callers in recent years, pick one of Shawn Watson, Sterlin Gilbert, Tom Herman, and Mike Yurcich, often noted Patterson’s defense is effective at taking away offensive strengths and forcing teams to overcome weaknesses in personnel or scheme. Sarkisian saw the same thing and said as much on Thursday.

“They’re going to challenge you and try to take away the things that you do well,” Sarkisian said. “They’re going to challenge you on where he thinks there’s weaknesses in your team, and they stress you that way.”

Herman is the only member of the aforementioned group to have topped TCU, taking the 2018 contest in Austin. Since that season ended, Texas has been the butt of many jokes for its continued attempts and failures to return to prominence. Accordingly, Sarkisian believes Texas hasn’t been respected by its foes, potentially even the upcoming one.

“I think right now when we take the field, a lot of our opponents do not respect us,” Sarkisian said Thursday. “So, we have to earn their respect and we earn their respect in our style of play, in our execution, in our physicality. And respect is earned, it’s not given.”

TCU may also receive an invigoration of talent this upcoming week on Patterson’s side of the football. Quality corner Noah Daniels and defensive linemen Corey Bethley and Khari Coleman could return to the lineup for when the Longhorns and Horned Frogs kick off Saturday at 11 a.m. in Amon G. Carter Stadium. Texas offensive players know the challenge they face in the often-slanting Horned Frog defensive front.

“They’re a penetrating defensive line,” senior guard Denzel Okafor said Monday. “They work into the guards a lot. We have to work ways to counter that. They’ve been a good team for the last few years going against us. They’re a good defensive team.”

Longhorn quarterback Casey Thompson said Monday he saw similar things from the TCU defensive front, but also went into detail about his view of the Frogs’ defensive secondary. In his extensive film study, Thompson noted TCU played a considerable amount of cover 4 with its athletes in the secondary.

During Thompson’s time in Austin, Longhorn teams he has been a member of have a 1-2 record versus TCU. The 2020 result was one of the toughest to swallow as it occurred not just at home, but to a Patterson team that was inferior in quality compared to several others he’s coached.

That’s in the past for this Texas group. The focus for Thompson and other Longhorns is this upcoming Saturday.

“I’m not worried and we’re not worried about the record, or I wouldn’t say that we’re worried about them having our number,” Thompson said. “We’re just focused on executing the game plan and coming out with a win on top this week.”

It’ll be a challenge for Sarkisian and his offense, and one other Texas coaches have struggled mightily with in their Texas tenures. While there could be a focus on the past, Sarkisian’s message isn’t so much about the elephant in the room but what his team has to do in order to leave Fort Worth with another Big 12 win.

In order to do that, he’ll have to top one of modern college football’s top defensive minds in their first time facing each other. Considering all the possible noise about the past nine years, Patterson, his defense, and even the condition of the Big 12, what is Sarkisian’s plan?

“We’re going to show up Saturday at 11 o’clock and kick off and play football,” he said.