Updates from Steve Sarkisian's pre-Cotton Bowl Zoom + video

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian addressed the media via Zoom on Friday ahead of the Longhorns’ Cotton Bowl matchup with Ohio State. Here are a handful of updates.

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Texas HC Steve Sarkisian speaking on Zoom: “Just like to say first of all, it’s an honor to represent the SEC in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl. This game has been notorious for great games and great teams over the years. Obviously, this being a semifinal game of the College Football Playoff, it’s definitely an honor to be a part of this.”

Steve Sarkisian on Ohio State’s fast starts: “It’s a credit to their coaching staff, first of all. Game planning, putting together a nice plan on offense, defense, and special teams. And instilling that with the players, the players playing with confidence.”

Steve Sarkisian in an answer regarding Isaiah Bond: “I think we’re going to be healthy and good to go by the time the game rolls around.

Steve Sarkisian: “I hope that we can find balance and I think that we’re more than equipped to do that. In really evaluating the last ballgame, we really couldn’t get our backs free into the second level. I thought Arizona State did a nice job. I thought their safeties and their secondaries tackled well and got us on the ground, and we didn’t get a whole lot of reps to find the rhythm of it so everybody’s kind of got to take some responsibility for that. But we’re at our best when we can run it and that gives us balance.”

Steve Sarkisian on Ohio State QB Will Howard: “I think we’ve got to be really good at the line of scrimmage against the run and the pass. Ohio State is similar to us in that way. When they have balance, they’re very difficult.”

Steve Sarkisian on Quinn Ewers: “When he went to Ohio State early on, he should have still been a senior in high school. When we got him back, he was in our eyes a freshman at that time. So there’s been a lot of development. I would say physical development, but I would also say mental and emotional development. To watch him grow into the leader that he’s grown into for us, his ability to have the poise and composure he has not only on the field, but off the field and to look into the face of adversity, and come out on the other side of it time and time again whether it be injuries, whatever that looks like, to be at his best when his best was needed similar to the Peach Bowl there at the end of the game in overtime.”

Steve Sarkisian on Will Howard: “He’s a much better athlete than people give him credit for. He snapped off a 70-yard touchdown run against us a few years ago, so he has good speed. He’s got great poise and composure in the pocket.” — Mentions he’s bright, and he throws catchable footballs.

Steve Sarkisian: “Caleb (Downs) is a fantastic football player. We played against him last year, his freshman year at Alabama, and he made some impactful games in that game. You can sense and feel his football IQ, his awareness, yet the athletic ability to cover ground to make plays, but then the physical ability to cover ground to make plays then the physical ability to get people on the ground to take on blocks. He’s a complete player. He’s an all-around player.”

Steve Sarkisian: “We didn’t come this far just to come this far. The journey’s not done. The mission is not complete.”

Steve Sarkisian: “We believe in sport science. We believed in it before the 12-team Playoff came into existence, but we definitely poured into it even more so when we found out that this could be the path and the journey that we’d go on before the season.”

Steve Sarkisian on Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith: “They’re both big, physical players. They have length. They have speed. They have playmaking ability on the ball. They have big catch radiuses. They’ve got the scheme to go with it, with Coach Kelly and Coach Day, and they’ve got a quarterback who delivers you the ball. You add all that up, these guys are impactful players that are real issues, and we’re going to have a hard time guarding.”

Steve Sarkisian on first-down offense: “I thought (Arizona State) was very active. I thought they did a good job of running their defense. I didn’t think it was so much that there was something new or different, but they executed. I thought they won some of their one-on-ones, which we’ve got to improve upon that.”

Steve Sarkisian: “As far as football goes, we don’t play flag football. This isn’t 7-on-7. This is tackle football. We believe in playing a physical brand of football. We try to do it the right way within the rules. There were numerous plays I thought in the game that I’m sure they were upset about a call. There were numerous plays I didn’t agree with the call. But that’s football. That’s the way it goes, but we’re not going to change the way we play. We play a physical brand of football. We’re always going to try to impose our will on our opponents, and Michael (Taaffe) is a great example of that. He plays the game the right way.”

Steve Sarkisian: “We’re going into game 16 here, so how you manage the players, how you utilize your time, how you try to keep them as fresh as you can physically and mentally, but also make sure you’ve got a good plan that you can execute. The further you go in the playoffs, the better quality opponent that you face. Your quality of play has to continue to improve.”

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Steve Sarkisian on the Ohio State pass-rush: “They’re ferocious up front. Got a big pass rush. Big on the inside, big edge players that are very talented.”