What Steve Sarkisian said after Texas' 33-30 win over Kansas State

Here’s what Steve Sarkisian had to say after the Longhorns’ overtime 33-30 win over the Kansas State Wildcats.

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Opening statement: “Sometimes I feel like I’m a broken record when I talk about versatility, resilience, perseverance. Those are qualities that championship teams have because they find a way to win different ways, and they find a way to win games at critical moments and can make plays at critical moments. For our guys today, it just felt like another example of that. As good as we were playing early, our own miscues and some forced by them allowed Kansas State to get back into the game. I think it tested us. It tested our resiliency. It tested our culture to stick together because in the end, when you block a punt and they score off of that, when you throw a pick in your own end and they score off of that, and when you fumble in your own end and they score off of that, those are moments when some teams could break when the game gets tied, can’t get the stop.

Could we have played better? Could we have found a way to play better at some key moments? Sure. But we played well enough at the most critical moment when the ball is on your own four or five-yard line there for four straight snaps and our defense was able there to get the stop.

It was a great start to the game. I loved the efficiency with which were were playing in all three phases. Unfortunately we let them back into the game. Then, we had to fight like crazy to find a way to win. To sit here 8-1 sure feels a heck of a lot better than sitting here 7-2. Proud of our team, but we also know that we can improve and we can get better, and our best football is still out there.”

On the benefit of a veteran defense and a veteran staff in key moments: “I think that is a huge component to it. I think continuity, I think guys playing in the same system for three consecutive years. I think guys getting coached by the same coaches for three consecutive years, there’s a level of consistency to that. The message is very consistent. I also think what was helpful there is depth and the idea that we can rotate players throughout the game and feel very comfortable when other guys are in the game, that we can rotate young players in there and trust them to go do their job and spell back and forth. In the end when you get into games like this in the fourth quarter, maybe we’re not as tired this year as maybe we were in the past when we were just playing 11 or 12 guys. Now when you start playing into the 20s with depth, and you’re rotating corners and rotating your safeties, you’re rotating your linebackers, you’re rotating the entire defensive front, maybe we just have a little more juice in the tank there at the end to make a couple of those plays. Not everything went our way today. Some things were self inflicted wounds, some things happened today that were out of our control. To our players’ credit they didn’t even let that get in the way of them being focused on what they needed to do at the end of the game.”

On Ethan Burke, Steve Sarkisian said that Burke practiced for 15-16 full reps on Tuesday and wanted to see how his body responded on Wednesday: “He came back and practiced more on Wednesday, and then at that point we felt good and that he’s going to be available to us. I love Ethan because he’s a blue collar guy. How he makes his play and what he does is through effort and through toughness.”

On Maalik Murphy: “I always feel for guys when they’re early in their career playing. It was such a good start for him, and he was making some great plays. There were some things there that obviously we felt good about. I think one thing for Maalik, and I’m going to have this discussion with him, is not every play is going to be the play. That’s not always that play where you make that throw. What he hopefully can understand is we’re going to be an aggressive playcalling team and he’s going to have plenty of opportunities to make throws and to do those things. Sometimes, similar to last week, your best play is throwing it away. We haven’t gotten to that point yet with him. It’s not about talent. It’s not about understanding of the scheme. It’s he doesn’t have to prove to anyone that he has to make a play. What I saw from him today was bouncing back.”

On the punt block…

Steve Sarkisian on the blocked punt: "We screwed up our punt protection. We had one guy who thought he heard one call that's not even in our system. When you don't block one guy right there down the middle, unless he's not a good player, he's going to block it and that's exactly…

— Inside Texas (@InsideTexas) November 4, 2023

On red zone issues: “I loved that fourth down run from Cedric Baxter for a touchdown today, baby. That was huge. If you’re going to go for it, you’ve got to have a mindset that this is the best play for us in the moment. I loved the play. I’d call it again right now. Unfortunately in the wildcat, the ball rubs off the hip of Cedric Baxter or JT Sanders is going to walk into the end zone for a touchdown. That’s football.”

On Murphy: “We’re not going to be able to win the rest of the games on our schedule if we don’t throw a pass. We’re going to have to have balance.” — “I wouldn’t have anybody out there if I didn’t think they were good enough to help us win, and Maalik is good enough to help us win. Again, there’s things in there that hopefully we can grow from in this game that he can continue to improve. When he’s hot, he’s great. The key is, not every throw is going to go for that big explosive touchdown play. Sometimes it’s okay the check it down. Sometimes it’s okay to throw it away. It’s okay to punt. That’s fine, but that’s our job as coaches to get them to that point.”

On Bert Auburn: “Bert, we’ve got a lot of faith in (him). One thing I try to do as a coach is let our players know that I believe in them. I wouldn’t tell them I believed in them if I didn’t. I think Bert is a prime example of that. Sometimes, early in the year, you miss a couple of kicks here and there. I know what he’s capable of, so the fact he was able to find his rhythm here in the last few ballgames and make some really big kicks for us is huge for us moving forward.”

On the game: “Inevitably, today was about our inability to take care of the ball. When you have three turnovers and a blocked punt, that allowed them to get back into the game. Outside of that, we played really good today. Hopefully all our players understand that we believe in them, but we’re also going to continue to push them and demand that they play to their standard and their capabilities.”

On Cedric Baxter’s run: “Big confidence booster for Ced, he’s getting healthier and healthier. — “Any time you have two rushers basically go for 100 yards each, that’s a great thing for us moving forward.”

On Quinn Ewers: “He’s moving in the right direction. How quickly (he’ll be back), I don’t exactly know yet. I know this much, our team is fighting through a lot of stuff from an injury perspective.” — Christian Jones was out, Kelvin Banks missed time, Kitan Crawford couldn’t play nor could Jalen Catalon.

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On the win: “I’d much rather win ugly than lose pretty. I’ve never seen a pretty loss, so I’ll take this one. I love being 8-1. Proud of our team. We did a lot of really good things today, but there’s a handful of things I know we can improve upon.” — Says it’s the coaches’ job now to peel back the onion on the game and find areas for where players can individually improve. — “There’s a lot of teams that would have played in this game today that wouldn’t have won, and we continue to find a way to win. That’s the sign of a champion.”

On the fourth down stop, Sarkisian said he was cognizant of the quarterback run and the quarterback scramble.

On the defense: “I thought our pass-rushers today rushed. They felt comfortable when they got their opportunities, and I think in coverage we’ve continued to build confidence staying sticky in coverage.”