October 14, 2024 • 11 mins
Hear from Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian at his Monday press conference as he recaps the win over Oklahoma, the success of the defense, and more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
It's the Craig Way Show with the voice of the
Texas Longhorns in Hall of Fame Broadcasting, Craig Way.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Here are the Longhorns Monday as Texas comes off that
thirty four to three winter of the Oklahoma Sooners winning
that Red River rivalry matchup. Now, so I know a
lot of the trends had pointed out Oklahoma and won,
you know whatever, seven of the last ten. Now it's
seven of the last eleven. As folks had pointed out.
(00:38):
Texas can point to now having won two of the
last three, having outscored Oklahoma in that eighty three to
three during that time, outscoring them by eighty points. So
they get the bragging right to get the Golden hat.
And now it's on to Georgia and getting ready for
the fifth ranked team in the country. Texas, by the way,
did widen the gap in to the voting polls.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
The AP Pole and the Coaches poll.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
They garnered fifty six of the sixty two first place
votes in the AP poll I believe fifty three to
fifty five first place votes in the Coaches poll. Warrington
is now number two in both polls following the Ducks
win over Ohio State. But we all know that until
the college football playoff ranking start coming out in early November,
the rest of that doesn't matter an awful lot. It's
(01:25):
about just continuing to play and get ready for the
next one. And that was that code by Long Worn's
head coach Steve Sarkisian. We brought.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
You know, they didn't waiver, We had a sudden change.
They went in, they played really good defense, they settled,
they settled everything down in the second quarter, you know,
the offense really got rolling. I think we had over
two hundred and twenty something yards there in the second quarter,
found some explosive plays. Again, played complimentary football. We got
the turnover score in one play. Our special teams continue
to play at.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
A high level.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
And then you know, for us, obviously the goal is
if we can get a lead, extend the lead, try
to make people one dimensional, and then try to go
affect the quarterback and so to come out of the
game with five sacks I think thirty pressures or something
on the quarterback, that's a that's a good, you know,
kind of recipe for success for us in a style
of play. And on the same token, protect our quarterback.
(02:43):
You know, oh you had a really good pass rush
and ability to get to the quarterback. They sacked us
on the first play of the game and then didn't
give up another one after that, and so.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
All in all, was really proud of our guys.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
They're poise, their composure, their ability to play sixty minutes.
I was so proud of that group that in there
at the end uh to to maintain not giving up
a touchdown in the game.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So, all in all was a good win for us.
I was happy for the guys.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
You know, it's always a great moment and you can
bring the golden hat home, But as I said Saturday,
it's more work to do and we've got a heck
of a challenge this weekend against Georgia, very good football team.
Have a ton of respect for coach Smart and the
job that he's done at Georgia. They've kind of somewhat
been the standard of college football here now for the
last oh, you know, six seven years. You know, I
(03:30):
think they've been to you know, seven SEC championship games.
You know, they won three in a row, back to
back national champs, competed for a third and so you know,
they've recruited really well, they've got great schemes, are really
well coached. You know, I know that the moment won't
be too big for them coming into dk R. But
with that being said, we need DKR to be rocking.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
You know.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
We need to make sure that that we've got a
home field advantage and one that you know, our fans
have done a tremendous job all year.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Uh, and we're looking forward.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
For that with another night game, a lot happening in
Austin this weekend with F one, with College Game Day
being here, and I think to the point I made
to the players, we need to continue to stay enamor
with us and what we need to do and focus
on the task at hand and not get caught up
in what you guys are talking about or anybody else
is talking about. It's not what other people say. It's
(04:21):
actually about what we do. It's about our action and
we can control. We can control. And that was today's
walkthrough and implementation of the game plan, and then focus
on it one day at a time from there. So
great challenge, great opportunity. I know our players are looking
forward to it. Like I said, against a very good opponent.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
All right, those were the opening comments, the opening statement
there from Sark, and then it went on to the
questions the Q and A. For him, the first thing
he was asked about us about the defense, which played
so well and really on a day when they did
a lot with the five sacks and the takeaways. What
(04:58):
impressed Sark most about the defense that.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
We're not a one dimensional defense.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
You know, you think to yourself, Okay, where's the where's
the holes? I would say, gosh, okay, you know there.
You know we're we got to try to run it
to control it so we can minimize the pass rush.
But it's difficult to run it. Okay, you want to
take shots. Well, we don't give up explosive passes. I
think we gave up one explosive pass Saturday on a
curl route. Okay, Well, maybe let's get too empty and
(05:26):
spread them out and find completions. Well, the pass rush
is getting home, and so that would be the thing
and be you always try to look for, Okay, where
can I gain an advantage? But I think the one
thing in evaluating our defense is that we're playing really
well across the board. We're not playing great against the run,
and we're struggling against the pass or vice versa.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
I think we're pretty balanced that way, all right.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
The other things that you got the address, and this
was an interesting thing he was He was asked about
players who transfer into the program. Now, when this day
and age, in this modern era of college football, with
the transfer portal and nil and all of the things
that have changed the game a bit, sometimes transfers it.
(06:13):
It does hit differently, and it doesn't hit differently in
a good way a lot of times. And the long
runs have had some of those that were kind of
more missed than hit. But by and large, the players
who have transferred into the program and are playing the
season have hit in a big way and they've they've
(06:34):
made a difference. And so Sark was asked, what makes
it work when you have the are opportunity to bring
guys in and what you know. The other part of
the question was when you are researching guys who have
(06:58):
put their name into the portal, what goes into the process.
How well do you know these guys? How does that
all come together when you're trying to decide who you
would like to take once they had put their name
in the portal.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I think all the guys that we took, you know,
Trey Moore, Andrew mccuba, Matthew Golden, Silas Bolden, Isaiah Bond,
Amari Ny Black.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I feel bad if I'm forgetting somebody here.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
But.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
All of them, and all the d lineman obviously from
Norton to Lola and Tia, we had some sort of
background with. Okay, we recruited matt Golden really hard out
of high school, so we had an idea of what
he was made up of. We recruited Isaiah Bond really
hard out of high school. Johnny Nansen coached two of
the three defensive linemen and recruited you know, Jermaine lay Uh,
(07:50):
Trey Moore we competed against, and then you know, the
one that we didn't was Silas. But yet a good
friend of mine is Jonathan Smith, who was his head
coach at Oregon State at that time. We knew a
lot of people from his high school in that area
in southern California, Rancho Cucamonga High School, and so we
just tried to dive.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Into the character and what his makeup was.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And you don't, you're not a guy of his stature
physically and have the success that you've had at this level.
If you don't have a huge heart if you don't
play the game with an immense amount of courage and
effort and resilience. And that's what we got. You know,
we got a guy who plays that way. It's maximum effort.
(08:31):
Uh exudes courage every every chance that he gets. And
I think that that's what we see. You know, I
reference to the team today and in our meeting, you know,
through our good, bad and ugly session. You know, last year,
there was a play last season. It was ironically when
Quinny come back, he gets TCU with an interception, when
you saw Jordan Winnington and Xavier Worthy both get up
(08:53):
off the ground chase a guy down, Jordan knocks the
ball loose and Xavier recovers the fumble and and really
changed the momentum of that game when that game could
have went a different direction. And I felt like the
play Silas made Saturday on Trey's touchdown run was another
culture play. If you want to try to exemplify what
this team is about. Here's a guy that blocks a corner.
(09:16):
He's in the backfield and Tray's about twenty yards ahead
of him, and nowhere in there did he think to
put his hands in the air and just let the
guy score. I mean he turned and was sprinting to
get to the football, and ironically enough, that ball came
out and he was Johnny on the spot. And that
was a seven to three game at that time, and
how that could have really changed the complexion of that
(09:38):
game if we don't score that touchdown to make it
fourteen to three. So I'm always looking for plays to
point out, you know, you know, amazing effort, and we
take pride in the effort that we play with. But
then I try to find those plays that I refer
to him as culture plays, you know, to me, that
was our culture that Silas has fit in beautifully too,
that in my opinion, really kind of kickstarted us there
(10:01):
in that third quarter, excuse me, second quarter.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
One other question, this one about his defensive line and
the movement that the Loghorns have employed on that defensive
front with the ends swinging around going to three down,
look four down, look even five down in some cases,
and the movement off the edge as well, and Sark
was asked how much of a factor is that in
making it more difficult for opposing offenses?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
You know, that's something again I think our defensive staff
has done a great job with Trey Moore's another one
of those guys that's moved around a fair amount.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Again, we feel like we've got some pretty good pass
rushers now. And you know, as an offensive coach, if
you know where they're going to line up every play,
you can.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Kind of scheme and game plan for that.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
But when you start to give a variety of looks
and you can try to create some of those one
on one matchups for these guys, that's when they are
really at their best. And you know, a couple of
weeks ago, it was calling, you know, working off the
edge and he was getting the one on one Saturday,
you saw it with an Hill with a couple of
those one on ones to create some rushes. But other
guys were doing it too. You know, the sack Serell gets,
(11:06):
it's really a heck of a pass rush. We had
Vernon Broughton that you know, rushing on the left tackle
that kind of squeezed the pocket and forced the quarterback
to flush to get the sack. So a lot of
the times the guy that gets the sack gets the credit,
but it's a combination of all those guys working together.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
That's why I'm going into the game.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
We talk so much about our rush lanes because we
didn't want to let the quarterback escape. We want to
make sure that pocket collapse. But yet somebody could get
home in the one on one pass rush.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
All right, we'll hear more from Sark coming up next hour.
Up next, we have Inconceivable here on sports Radio AM
thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.
It's the Craig Way Show with the voice of the
Texas Longhorns in Hall of Fame Broadcasting, Craig Way.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Here are the Longhorns Monday as Texas comes off that
thirty four to three winter of the Oklahoma Sooners winning
that Red River rivalry matchup. Now, so I know a
lot of the trends had pointed out Oklahoma and won,
you know whatever, seven of the last ten. Now it's
seven of the last eleven. As folks had pointed out.
(00:38):
Texas can point to now having won two of the
last three, having outscored Oklahoma in that eighty three to
three during that time, outscoring them by eighty points. So
they get the bragging right to get the Golden hat.
And now it's on to Georgia and getting ready for
the fifth ranked team in the country. Texas, by the way,
did widen the gap in to the voting polls.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
The AP Pole and the Coaches poll.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
They garnered fifty six of the sixty two first place
votes in the AP poll I believe fifty three to
fifty five first place votes in the Coaches poll. Warrington
is now number two in both polls following the Ducks
win over Ohio State. But we all know that until
the college football playoff ranking start coming out in early November,
the rest of that doesn't matter an awful lot. It's
(01:25):
about just continuing to play and get ready for the
next one. And that was that code by Long Worn's
head coach Steve Sarkisian. We brought.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
You know, they didn't waiver, We had a sudden change.
They went in, they played really good defense, they settled,
they settled everything down in the second quarter, you know,
the offense really got rolling. I think we had over
two hundred and twenty something yards there in the second quarter,
found some explosive plays. Again, played complimentary football. We got
the turnover score in one play. Our special teams continue
to play at.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
A high level.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
And then you know, for us, obviously the goal is
if we can get a lead, extend the lead, try
to make people one dimensional, and then try to go
affect the quarterback and so to come out of the
game with five sacks I think thirty pressures or something
on the quarterback, that's a that's a good, you know,
kind of recipe for success for us in a style
of play. And on the same token, protect our quarterback.
(02:43):
You know, oh you had a really good pass rush
and ability to get to the quarterback. They sacked us
on the first play of the game and then didn't
give up another one after that, and so.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
All in all, was really proud of our guys.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
They're poise, their composure, their ability to play sixty minutes.
I was so proud of that group that in there
at the end uh to to maintain not giving up
a touchdown in the game.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So, all in all was a good win for us.
I was happy for the guys.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
You know, it's always a great moment and you can
bring the golden hat home, But as I said Saturday,
it's more work to do and we've got a heck
of a challenge this weekend against Georgia, very good football team.
Have a ton of respect for coach Smart and the
job that he's done at Georgia. They've kind of somewhat
been the standard of college football here now for the
last oh, you know, six seven years. You know, I
(03:30):
think they've been to you know, seven SEC championship games.
You know, they won three in a row, back to
back national champs, competed for a third and so you know,
they've recruited really well, they've got great schemes, are really
well coached. You know, I know that the moment won't
be too big for them coming into dk R. But
with that being said, we need DKR to be rocking.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
You know.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
We need to make sure that that we've got a
home field advantage and one that you know, our fans
have done a tremendous job all year.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Uh, and we're looking forward.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
For that with another night game, a lot happening in
Austin this weekend with F one, with College Game Day
being here, and I think to the point I made
to the players, we need to continue to stay enamor
with us and what we need to do and focus
on the task at hand and not get caught up
in what you guys are talking about or anybody else
is talking about. It's not what other people say. It's
(04:21):
actually about what we do. It's about our action and
we can control. We can control. And that was today's
walkthrough and implementation of the game plan, and then focus
on it one day at a time from there. So
great challenge, great opportunity. I know our players are looking
forward to it. Like I said, against a very good opponent.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
All right, those were the opening comments, the opening statement
there from Sark, and then it went on to the
questions the Q and A. For him, the first thing
he was asked about us about the defense, which played
so well and really on a day when they did
a lot with the five sacks and the takeaways. What
(04:58):
impressed Sark most about the defense that.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
We're not a one dimensional defense.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
You know, you think to yourself, Okay, where's the where's
the holes? I would say, gosh, okay, you know there.
You know we're we got to try to run it
to control it so we can minimize the pass rush.
But it's difficult to run it. Okay, you want to
take shots. Well, we don't give up explosive passes. I
think we gave up one explosive pass Saturday on a
curl route. Okay, Well, maybe let's get too empty and
(05:26):
spread them out and find completions. Well, the pass rush
is getting home, and so that would be the thing
and be you always try to look for, Okay, where
can I gain an advantage? But I think the one
thing in evaluating our defense is that we're playing really
well across the board. We're not playing great against the run,
and we're struggling against the pass or vice versa.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
I think we're pretty balanced that way, all right.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
The other things that you got the address, and this
was an interesting thing he was He was asked about
players who transfer into the program. Now, when this day
and age, in this modern era of college football, with
the transfer portal and nil and all of the things
that have changed the game a bit, sometimes transfers it.
(06:13):
It does hit differently, and it doesn't hit differently in
a good way a lot of times. And the long
runs have had some of those that were kind of
more missed than hit. But by and large, the players
who have transferred into the program and are playing the
season have hit in a big way and they've they've
(06:34):
made a difference. And so Sark was asked, what makes
it work when you have the are opportunity to bring
guys in and what you know. The other part of
the question was when you are researching guys who have
(06:58):
put their name into the portal, what goes into the process.
How well do you know these guys? How does that
all come together when you're trying to decide who you
would like to take once they had put their name
in the portal.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I think all the guys that we took, you know,
Trey Moore, Andrew mccuba, Matthew Golden, Silas Bolden, Isaiah Bond,
Amari Ny Black.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I feel bad if I'm forgetting somebody here.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
But.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
All of them, and all the d lineman obviously from
Norton to Lola and Tia, we had some sort of
background with. Okay, we recruited matt Golden really hard out
of high school, so we had an idea of what
he was made up of. We recruited Isaiah Bond really
hard out of high school. Johnny Nansen coached two of
the three defensive linemen and recruited you know, Jermaine lay Uh,
(07:50):
Trey Moore we competed against, and then you know, the
one that we didn't was Silas. But yet a good
friend of mine is Jonathan Smith, who was his head
coach at Oregon State at that time. We knew a
lot of people from his high school in that area
in southern California, Rancho Cucamonga High School, and so we
just tried to dive.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Into the character and what his makeup was.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And you don't, you're not a guy of his stature
physically and have the success that you've had at this level.
If you don't have a huge heart if you don't
play the game with an immense amount of courage and
effort and resilience. And that's what we got. You know,
we got a guy who plays that way. It's maximum effort.
(08:31):
Uh exudes courage every every chance that he gets. And
I think that that's what we see. You know, I
reference to the team today and in our meeting, you know,
through our good, bad and ugly session. You know, last year,
there was a play last season. It was ironically when
Quinny come back, he gets TCU with an interception, when
you saw Jordan Winnington and Xavier Worthy both get up
(08:53):
off the ground chase a guy down, Jordan knocks the
ball loose and Xavier recovers the fumble and and really
changed the momentum of that game when that game could
have went a different direction. And I felt like the
play Silas made Saturday on Trey's touchdown run was another
culture play. If you want to try to exemplify what
this team is about. Here's a guy that blocks a corner.
(09:16):
He's in the backfield and Tray's about twenty yards ahead
of him, and nowhere in there did he think to
put his hands in the air and just let the
guy score. I mean he turned and was sprinting to
get to the football, and ironically enough, that ball came
out and he was Johnny on the spot. And that
was a seven to three game at that time, and
how that could have really changed the complexion of that
(09:38):
game if we don't score that touchdown to make it
fourteen to three. So I'm always looking for plays to
point out, you know, you know, amazing effort, and we
take pride in the effort that we play with. But
then I try to find those plays that I refer
to him as culture plays, you know, to me, that
was our culture that Silas has fit in beautifully too,
that in my opinion, really kind of kickstarted us there
(10:01):
in that third quarter, excuse me, second quarter.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
One other question, this one about his defensive line and
the movement that the Loghorns have employed on that defensive
front with the ends swinging around going to three down,
look four down, look even five down in some cases,
and the movement off the edge as well, and Sark
was asked how much of a factor is that in
making it more difficult for opposing offenses?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
You know, that's something again I think our defensive staff
has done a great job with Trey Moore's another one
of those guys that's moved around a fair amount.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Again, we feel like we've got some pretty good pass
rushers now. And you know, as an offensive coach, if
you know where they're going to line up every play,
you can.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Kind of scheme and game plan for that.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
But when you start to give a variety of looks
and you can try to create some of those one
on one matchups for these guys, that's when they are
really at their best. And you know, a couple of
weeks ago, it was calling, you know, working off the
edge and he was getting the one on one Saturday,
you saw it with an Hill with a couple of
those one on ones to create some rushes. But other
guys were doing it too. You know, the sack Serell gets,
(11:06):
it's really a heck of a pass rush. We had
Vernon Broughton that you know, rushing on the left tackle
that kind of squeezed the pocket and forced the quarterback
to flush to get the sack. So a lot of
the times the guy that gets the sack gets the credit,
but it's a combination of all those guys working together.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
That's why I'm going into the game.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
We talk so much about our rush lanes because we
didn't want to let the quarterback escape. We want to
make sure that pocket collapse. But yet somebody could get
home in the one on one pass rush.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
All right, we'll hear more from Sark coming up next hour.
Up next, we have Inconceivable here on sports Radio AM
thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.
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