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Three things to know from Sark: Coolest moment from Alabama, staying confident, what Wyoming brings

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•09/11/23•

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Steve Sarkisian (Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian recapped the Longhorns’ win over Alabama during his media availability on Monday, and gave one last perspective on the 34-24 win before moving on to looking at Wyoming.

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“I thought this was a really good team win,” Sarkisian said. “We talk a lot about being a versatile football team and having the ability to win multiple ways. Quite frankly, we needed all of our ways on Saturday night.”

Here are three things to know from Sarkisian’s Monday press conference.

Texas’ final drive was Sark’s ‘coolest moment of the game’

In what was a battle between two of college football’s top teams entering the 2023 season, there were plenty of highlight and lowlight moments for Sarkisian. The best moment of all from his perspective, however, covered the final 7:14 of the game.

Starting on their own 30, the Longhorns embarked on a 12-play, 34-yard drive. The drive forced Nick Saban to use all of his timeouts, an effort all for naught as Texas moved the sticks three times. Jonathon Brooks was responsible for the first two first downs, while a heads-up play from Hayden Conner when a Crimson Tide defender jumped in the neutral zone earned the last conversion needed to seal the game.

“When two really good teams play in college football, generally it’s going to come down to a possession or two at the end of the game,” Sarkisian said. “Your ability when you have the lead to possess the ball and try and not give it back to them is critical. That’s where your run game has to come alive. That was one of the coolest moments for me in that we were able to do that.”

Other moments were notable from the 34-24 win, like the converted deep passing attempts, seeing dignitaries like Vince Young, Jay Hartzell, Matthew McConaughey, and Gov. Greg Abbott on the sidelines, and celebrating with his son Brady Sarkisian after the game among the Longhorn fans in attendance.

But the moment that solidified the victory was the one that took the cake for Sarkisian.

Keeping the team focused and confident

Texas is 2-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country, sitting among college football’s elite with teams like Georgia, Michigan, and Florida State. The Longhorns feel good, and they should as well. They’re playing good football and Sarkisian wants to keep that going.

There’s a balance to strike, and that’s something Sarkisian has to figure out ahead of the home game versus the Cowboys.

“I think one of the mistakes I can make is to try and beat them down and then knock the confidence out of them,” Sarkisian said. “I’ve spent two and a half years trying to instill confidence into them. I want to be mindful of that. I have to point out areas for us to improve and where we can get better as a team.

“Ultimately me being transparent with them all of the time, good, bad, ugly, whatever that is, I’ve earned their trust. I would never guide them in a direction that wouldn’t be in their best interest to perform at the highest level.”

Sarkisian doesn’t want confidence to lead to carelessness. He mentioned that excellence lies in the details, and he believes those details are what led to victory in Tuscaloosa.

For Sarkisian and his staff, that confidence has to lead into the effort needed to win every game and not just what admittedly was a big one.

“I do not want our guys to not feel confident coming out of that game,” Sarkisian said. “They earned the right to be confident by the way they played. Now we’re trying to recreate it.”

What lies ahead in Wyoming

“We’ve got a really tough opponent that challenges you in a lot of ways. Coach (Craig) Bohl is a tremendous coach. He’s got a really veteran football team, a lot of fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year seniors on their team. Really well-coached, hard-nosed team. They make things challenging on you because they execute really well on both sides of the ball and especially on special teams. Great challenge, a 2-0 team coming in here confidently.”

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Injury updates on CJ Baxter and Morice Blackwell

Sarkisian updated the status of CJ Baxter, who was seen hobbling into the locker room after the game, and Morice Blackwell.

“Knock on wood, not quite as serious as we may have originally thought,” Sarkisian said of Baxter. “We’re going to monitor him day-to-day. He was at practice today, very limited. We’ll monitor him on that front.”

Sarkisian said Blackwell was continuing to go through the rehab process and may not be too far from being ready for action.

“He was running almost full speed today. He’ll be day to day as we move throughout the week.”

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