November 17, 2025 • 24 mins
Hear Steve Sarkisian's news conference each Monday morning at 11am on AM 1300 The Zone!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From Saturday night. A lot of the things I felt
like I saw to be true in the game felt
like they held true when I watched the tape. You know,
you look at at the end of the third quarter
and it's fourteen to ten. You're looking out about a
really very even ballgame. You know, from a yardist standpoint
(00:20):
third down conversions. You know, both teams had a turnover.
It was very kind of hard fought game. It's exactly
what we thought it would be.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
You know.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Unfortunately, you know, they have the drive to score, and
on that drive they had the two fourth down conversions,
which you know, credit to them for for for you know,
taking the risk for trying to convert those. It's fortunate
we didn't execute on the first fourth and one, and
it's unfortunate we jumped off sides on the second one.
You know, that's on us. We've got to be better
in those special situations in the game. It's exactly what
(00:53):
we told the team today. And then coming right out
of it, you know, they hit us with the surprise
on side kick, and so when you really look at
the gravity of from fourteen to ten to thirty five
to ten, they scored twenty one points. We ran three
plays on offense, and so you know, there's a there's
(01:13):
a lot of ways to look at the game and
what happened and what we could have done differently and
or better. But if you really just take a snapshot
of the game, that's that's when it got away from us.
And so, like I said, credit to Georgia. They played
a heck of a game, and you know they they
took their risk at opportune times and and and made
their plays and we didn't. So I think I think
(01:34):
the thing for us right now is we got to refocus.
We've got a great opportunity here the last two weeks
of the season and see what happens. And that that
first opportunity is this Saturday at home at DKR. It's
great to be back again. You know, we've only had
the one home game here that started November for about
a month and a half, so to be back home
against a long standing rival in Arkansas is something I
(01:56):
know our players are excited about. And then the idea,
you know, everyone's that want to talk about all of
the other stuff surrounding the team and the season and
what might and this might. Our focus is on what
we can control and what we can control is our
preparation and our play this Saturday. I guess a very
very dangerous Arkansas team. That the record is not indicative
(02:17):
of how well these guys have been playing. They've played
four road games, They've lost by a combined eleven points
on the road. Most most recently they lose twenty three
to twenty two at LSU, but very tight ball games.
Have got a very explosive offense, a great quarterback in Green,
who can run it, who can throw it, so they
pose a ton of challenges for us. They've got a
(02:39):
you know, top fifteen NFL draft pick defensive end. So
this is a very talented team, well coached. Coach Petrino
does a heck of a job in particular on offense
and it shows. So we got to work cut out
for us. But I think the good thing about our team,
I think that we've regrouped, we've refocused, and our focus
is on this game this Saturday, and it's one game
at a time. I'm here for the final two.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
If you have a question, right, Steve Nout, you've had
a chance to watch the film, do you still feel,
as far as the run game that there may have
been opportunities were left out there on the field or
do you still feel the same And just a second,
real quick, just what are you looking forward for the
eleven man run game going forward?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah? I think this, you know, like I said, I
thought we actually ran the ball relatively effectively. Uh, it's unfortunate.
You know, Trey takes an eight yard loss on a
run that gets bottled up and he tries to spit
back out you know where it was second and five,
And you know, we were talking about that this morning
as a team and coaching them that sometimes playing third
(03:41):
and four is a heck of a lot better than
playing third and fifteen. Ultimately convert that. But when you
just look at the flow of the game and the
amount of snaps in the game and where the game went,
you know, we knew we wanted to be aggressive. We
knew we wanted to attack him down the field, and
I thought we took enough shots to do that. You know,
would have like to have made a couple more plays,
(04:01):
but that's football. I don't think we were prepared to
abandon the run by any means. But like I said,
you know, it's fourteen to ten. We felt good about
the plan and running it and throwing it and all
the things, and the next thing you know, you look up,
it's twenty eight to ten and you have the ball
in your minus ten yard line with I think eight
(04:22):
minutes to go in the fourth quarter. And so at
that point you throw it three times, you got a punt.
Now it's thirty five to ten. So there's no runs
that are happening where you know, I think we could
have had some opportunities, But you know, I think at
the end of the day, our execution is going to
be important this Saturday. Our belief in what we're doing
in the run game is going to be important, and
we're going to have to negate some of their pass
(04:42):
rush with our ability to run the football, because if
there's one of the real strengths of them is you know,
they're playing you know, number ten now at kind of
buck defensive end, and they've got roads ninety seven on
the other side. Those guys can all rush the passer.
So we have to negate some of that with our
ability to run the ball in the middle.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Of Thomas Sarka. I know Ryan Wingo has an injured thumb.
I think he had a career high and catches how
did that affect him at all? The thumb and health wise,
Anthony Hill Junior or anybody else banged up are pretty healthy.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah. No, I don't think it affected Ryan, you know.
I mean, you know, the one, the one catch on
third down the first drive. You know, I don't think that.
I think he'd be the first one to tell you
that wasn't an issue on him making that play. Uh,
the other ball on the deep ball down down our
sideline towards the end zone would have been a great catch,
you know, was unable to make it. But you know
(05:33):
he made a couple other really good catches too, the
corner route on third down, the the deep curl route
on another third long. So I don't think that that
was an issue both both both Aunt and Ryan. We're
just we're making sure that they're gonna be okay. I'm
not ready to make that diagnosis on where they're gonna
be yet, but but feel optimistic about it.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
Hey, Kurch, what's been happening from a penalty person active?
And you know, I know obviously that's got to be
a source of frustration for you, But what's going Why
has that been a continual theme.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
We're getting called for penalties.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
Is there any particular reason why there's.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
A variety of them? Kind of along those lines.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
You played shortstop, you know that there's only so much
yelling at a guy who let a ball go between
his legs? Can do they know they went the ball
went between his legs. But when you have players who
do repeatedly commit those penalties and you've said you've addressed
him internally, when that doesn't carry over, what more can
you do to try to fix it?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, I think that's when you've got to make some
of the tough decisions, right, you know, when a player
you know, it's it's one thing is like, again, there's
a variety of penalties. What types of penalties are we getting?
And then can they be rectified? And if they can
be rectified, you know, and then they don't get rectified,
then you've got to make some of those those tough decisions.
And you know, I think that's that's the thing. You know,
(06:55):
I think it's easy to throw a blanket statement out,
what's up with the penalties? Well, what are the types
of penalties? When are they occurring?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Who?
Speaker 1 (07:01):
How are they occurring? You know, that's that's when you
got to drill deep you gotta you gotta look a
little deeper than just throwing a blanket over something.
Speaker 7 (07:11):
Yeah, coach, you know, in comparison to a year ago,
your yards on the ground has been cut in half
against SEC opponents. What's have you seen anything in particular
as to why that might be the case or how
to maybe remedy that over the next two weeks.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, you know, I think that we There's probably a
combination of things. You know. One, I felt like we
were blocking well in the run game a year ago.
I felt like we found a rhythm in the run
game with Trey a year ago. I think Trey really
hit his stride kind of the midpoint of the season,
(07:45):
maybe the OU game last year, and those two combinations,
I feel like we had real threats on the on
the outside, you know, with Matt and Isaiah and DeAndre
was going in gunner, and so I think people were
deploying a little bit differently on us. And then ultimately
there's a confidence from a play caller standpoint of where's
(08:05):
the strength of your team and what are you trying
to lean into to ultimately win. You know, last year
we were really a shut down defense, and you felt
very confident about our ability to play defense and shut
people down. I think sometimes this season a we haven't
ran it the way we would have liked. And so
do you are you comfortable going run, run and willing
(08:26):
to live with third down and whatever that is and
third down and having to convert to stay on the
field knowing if you punt it? You are you comfortable
enough to go out there and shut somebody down? And
so like the other night, Georgia's first two drives is
two touchdowns is fourteen to three, And so where's your
level of confidence of, Hey, if we run, run, pass,
we got a punt, how good do you feel about
(08:48):
it not being twenty one to three as opposed to
fourteen to three. And so you sometimes you have to
shift kind of your focus on how do you want
to attack and what do you need to do now?
Credit to the other night, our defense started mountain stops
and three and outs and things, and so games can
take a trajectory that are different than others. But I
think you have to look at at all. At the
end of the day, we have to be better at
(09:10):
running the ball. There's no question about it. Nobody is
nobody's in our building thinking, hey, we're good, but we've
got to find a way to do that. And whether
that's schematically, whether that's personnel, whether that's you know, shrinking
the plan, whether that's expanding the plan. There's a lot
of ways to get that done. But we've got to
find a way to gain yards on the ground to
(09:32):
where we aren't just a one dimensional football team.
Speaker 8 (09:37):
Yes, Steve, you've you've said in the past that you
know it's if they're drive eighty yards on you and score,
you tip your head to them. You want to make
them earn that. They seem to be getting a lot
of easy passes West Coast type stuff where they were
dumping it off. What's the fi line you walk between
blitzing price coverage or just making them earn it.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, No, I thought that. I thought they did have
a good plan on some of the balls to the perimeter.
And you know, number one, it was scary because he
can go buy you in a heartbeat, and he was
very electric, and so we tried to play with a
little bit more of a cushion there. I did think
we had some opportunities where we stayed on top. The
unfortunate part was, to your point, some of the flat routes.
(10:21):
Some of the crossing routes when they completed, they turned
into explosives. And that's where we've got to be better.
That's where we've got to populate the ball better. We've
got to leverage the ball better. And if it's a
gain of fourteen to fifteen yards over the middle, that
is what it is. They hit the one over the
middle and he goes out the back door and runs
it down to the six yard line. They you know,
they created explosives that way. And then on the other
(10:43):
side of it is we had some real breakdowns in
coverage and there was lack of I don't want to
say lack of communication, was lack of communication and being
reciprocated to where one person's communicating the other one's playing
the call as it's being called. And so, you know,
I think on the corner route the first touchdown pass,
(11:04):
we screw that up. On the seam route to sixteen,
we screw that up. And so there were some things
there that we got to play it better, and we're
more than capable of playing it better. And so that
gives me some confidence knowing we can play it better.
We're not sitting downstairs like we have no answers, but
we need to play it better for sure.
Speaker 9 (11:21):
Coach, you start with the thirteam play drive in the
beginning of the game, but then through the rest of
the first half three of the four drives had four
for your plays. But what happened in the next drives
that changed on Georgia side? And then what does your
team need to do going forward in that kind of
post scripted area of the game to play better.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, you know, I think one, we got to catch
the ball a little bit better. I think two, we
got to throw the ball a little bit better when
we have some opportunities. And then and then three we
got to make sure that we continue to try to
call things that put players in position to have success.
Speaker 10 (11:52):
John, Coach, you talk about too, guys regrouping and refocusing
and not worrying about everything that's being said.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Whether it's CFP or whatever.
Speaker 10 (11:59):
Is that easier had than done at this point.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I don't know. You know, I feel very confident in
our team and so that that they can do that again.
I thought we had a great meeting this morning. I
think young people are really resilient in general, and I
think when you give them a platform to to be
resilient that they'll do that. I think them understanding there
(12:25):
is a light at the end of the tunnel here
if we can handle our business and do it the
right way, and so, you know, like anything in life,
when there's hope, we can strive a little further and
stay on task with what we need to do. But
but again, this group gives me no reason that they
won't do that. But again, time will tell, right, I'm
gonna sit here and make any guarantees if if we can't,
(12:47):
if we don't have the ability to do that, but
I'm confident that we can. We'll see. We'll see over
the next four or five days how we do.
Speaker 11 (12:56):
Steve, what would you say the main reasons are this
team is some achieved according to who well in your
preseason number one. I think most people would agree three
losses is not achieving which are capable of.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I mean, I guess that's into who voted us number one. Okay,
What I think is that this team has competed their tailoff.
They've been faced with a lot of different adversity and injuries,
and a lot of stuff has come across this team's plate,
and I'm very proud of them with their resiliency. You know,
(13:30):
at the end of the day, at the University of Texas,
we're held to a very high standard, and the standard
is to compete for championships year in and year out,
and we're going to play the best teams in the country.
We're going to schedule the best teams in the country.
But by the end of the season, we'll play of
our twelve regular season opponents, five of those teams will
be top ten teams when we played them, so nearly
(13:51):
half our schedule, and we have an opportunity at the
end of the regular season to do something that nobody's
done since twenty nineteen, and that's beat three top ten
ranked teams in the regular season. Last team to do
that was LSU with Joe Burrow. So have we been
faced with a pretty difficult schedule? Have we been faced
with high expectations? Sure, but that's why we came here,
So we'll be okay.
Speaker 12 (14:13):
Roder start the progression of Arch early on, even in victory,
there was all some questions about, you know, his his growth.
Now he's not really a topic when it comes to
what's going on with his team other than the positive.
What have you seen? Has he kind of gotten over
a little bit of a humpy Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Man, I just think that the guy does what he
continues to do. He puts his head down and works.
He tries to be a great leader. You know, he
assumes responsibility when when he could do something better. He
picks people up when when somebody else makes mistakes. I mean,
that's the that's the sign of a guy who's maturing
and is very comfortable in his own skin. I've been
(14:50):
very proud of Arch. These aren't all easy games, and
that's not fun in the fourth quarter when you're down, uh,
you know, multiple scores and you're and you're trying to
get in the end zone and they got their ears peering,
pinned back and rushing the passer. But he competed like
he always does, and he'll prepare again this week to
go out and play really well. Coach, do you consider
this a trap game?
Speaker 11 (15:10):
After the disappointing lost Saturday, the Aggie's looming the day after.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Thanksgiving, it's a scary game. Yeah, I motivate this week. Yeah.
I think it's a very scary game because this is
a very dangerous Arkansas team and we address that with
the team this morning. You know, you put up their
last five games. The score of all those games, and
like I said, twenty three to twenty two. I think
first LSU the Auburn game, Auburn gets a late score
(15:34):
to make it thirty four. I think twenty three something
like that. A and M's forty five, forty two, Mississippi
State's thirty eight thirty five. Tennessee is thirty four to
thirty one. So they got their attention real quick. You
turn the tape on, it getses their attention real quick.
But I think the other side of it is, man,
we're restoring a great rivalry and first time for Arkansas
(15:56):
to be back at DKR in quite some time, and
so I know our guys are excited about that too.
They've had to go there twice now and they know
what that environment was like. Uh so for them to
come here to playing DKR, I know our guys are
excited about the opportunity, but we need to be careful.
I'll definitely say that you're right.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I'm Steve.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
A couple of minutes ago you said that offensively, all
need to catch the ball better, and I'm kind of wondering,
how concerned are you at the drops and how would
you great kind of this receiving group their development this season.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, I think our receivers have grown, you know. Again,
I I'm I was frustrated early in the season for
the lack of continuity and and just with Arch and
all of the receivers. I think he found his stride,
probably with Parker the earliest. Then he and Ryan kind
of found their stride, and then DeAndre and then Emmett
(16:45):
and so I really wish we could have found all
that throughout training camp. We just didn't. I think they've
grown better together. And nobody wants to drop the ball, Okay,
I mean nobody goes out there and breaks the huddle
and says, hey, I'm gonna drop this ball, and I
feel good about it. We're all trying really hard. I
think there's some fundamental things we can keep working on
with them, but I think it's also them trusting their
(17:06):
ability to go out and do it and do it
in critical moments. And again, it's not all the receivers.
You know, there's tight ends that got to make plays,
there's runners that got to make plays. But at the
end of the day, this group's a talented group. Like
I said, I think the rapport and continuity with Arch
continues to get better and their playmaking has improved. Now
there's a level of consistency of doing that, and like
(17:29):
I said, that's why we're never a finished product in
season right. We always have to continually try to develop
our players to improve throughout the season. And the receivers
are no different for us.
Speaker 13 (17:38):
You love as you kind of dive into some of
those miscommunications on the back end and some of the
penalties you were talking about, how much of that is
maybe uncharacteristically undisciplined, and at this point in the year
you surprise some of those things are still happening.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
I think, like I said, seasons as they go, you
ride the wave of where your issues are. I don't,
like I said, I don't think anybody is a finished
perfect product even right now, and we're all trying to
get better. You know, we were playing without Michael taff
for a couple of weeks, We didn't play with Jilani
the week before, it gets knocked out the first drive
(18:12):
of the game. Now they're back in the game and
so trusting that communication is one of the key components
to play in really good pass defense, and the lack
of that was the issue where we have to get
back to that. I don't think that's a really hard
fix for us. I think that's something that we can
get fixed and fixed fairly quickly. I wish we could
have done it in game. We just couldn't quite get
(18:34):
it right. But again, we're gonna there's gonna be some issues.
We didn't fit a couple of runs that that we
should have been fitting way better than we did. And
so there's things defensively that we can improve upon and
improve quickly upon. And we're gonna need to because Arkansas
is gonna challenge us that way.
Speaker 14 (18:49):
Right, Steve, you had to change out coaches in the
back end of your defense. Can you just give us a,
you know, kind of an update on how you think
that's gone this season.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Those guys are all really good coaches. You know, it's
great having coach a keenan staff. I think Mark mark
Orfe is a rising star. Kenoto Hudson was with us
last year as an analyst and now he's a full
time guy. So we're fortunate to have those guys on
staff doing the job that they do.
Speaker 10 (19:17):
Hey, Steve uh Justice Terry seven snaps, four tackles, is
he's someone you want to get more involved in, you know,
these next two games.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, I'm really proud of Justice. You know, he has
he has really come on, you know, from where he
was a couple of months ago to where he is today.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
It's a credit to his work ethic. I think it's
a credit to UH, to coach Baker and and and
the work that they're putting in. I think it was
great for Justice. He spends a lot of time even
now periodically throughout the week on scout team. So he's
going to DJ Campbell, He's going against Trevor Gooseby. I
think that has helped his development as well. But but man,
(19:53):
he's surely coming on, and I'm very proud of him that. Again,
here's a guy a month ago could have just waved
the white flag and said, well wait till next year.
But he's continued to work at his craft and he's
getting better, and he's a guy who is going to
continue to earn more playing time.
Speaker 15 (20:10):
Back to back games where there were scruggles in the
fourth quarter, where there are common themes to those two
poor finishes, and I remember when there were slow storats
you kind of adjusted practice to address that is there
a way to address now.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
I think there's ways we can address that. To your
point that that we can we look at some things,
especially on Tuesday and Wednesday in practice kind of different scenarios,
you know, so it's hard to it's hard to mirror them.
At the end of the day. I think it's about
mental intensity and focus and and you know, focusing on
(20:41):
the next play and not getting caught up in the
scoreboard and what might happen if this, if that, and
that's how distraction kicks in. And that's how you missed
that communication or you don't hear that call, or you're
not aware of the situation that you're in. And so
we got to improve upon that, and we got to
do a great job of coaches of reiterating that and
iving that point home. So it's hard for me to
(21:03):
say there's parallels there. They're just different games.
Speaker 14 (21:05):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
The results very similar, the score is very similar, but
you know, different different situations.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
If you will, Steve, I think last three games, you're
giving up over three hundred yards passing as a team.
Do you see any commonalities and how those teams have
attacked your defense and how do you kind of address.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Well, I think The first one is explosive pass plays.
You know, we we were so good and have been
historically so good at least the past couple of years
of not giving up the expose explosive plays. And I
think that to me, when you when you see that
yardage in passing, the explosive pass plays are something that
we've got to get that number back down. And explosive
(21:49):
passes don't always occur where they throw it over your head.
Now we've had a couple of those, but to me,
it's more about our ability to get people on the
ground when they get completions. And so so when you
start talking about playing in space, you start talking about leveraging,
and when you're tackling, we start talking about populating the ball.
We start talking about using proper angles when you have
(22:10):
a second tackler to force the cutback, or using the sidelines.
Those are things that we've got to improve upon because
I think that's where a lot of the explosives have
come from. People are going to complete passes like that's football, right,
but we got to make sure we get them on
the ground, and along with that, our communications got to
be better so that we're in the right spots when
they do complete balls that we can leverage the ball
(22:32):
and get people on the ground.
Speaker 10 (22:34):
Got your last question, Roger, Yes, Steve, we saw multiple
guys opposite of Manny on Saturday. Are you looking for
someone to just kind of step up and take that
position with consistent play or do you prefer that rotation
over there?
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Well, I think that was something you know, from a
couple of weeks ago, we said we were going to
continually look at guys and try to develop some of
these guys, and like, I was really proud of Caid
on some plays, and there were some growing pains for
Caid Saturday night. You know, they throw a hitcher out
and in front of him at the end of the
first quarter and he makes a tackle. It's about a
gain of six yards. The very next play to start
the second quarter, they tried him on a double move,
(23:08):
a hitch and go, and he stayed on top. He
defended it really well. Then the quarterback resets and hits
branch and it's about a gain of forty down to
our six. And then on third down they run the
slant return on him and he has outside leverage and
he has help inside with Jilani, and that's just the
experience of third and five, of knowing where your help
is and be able to sit on that top shoulder.
(23:29):
And it's probably a dead play there. So it's hard
to get that experience without actually doing it, and so
I think there's some growth there for him. Obviously, Jalen's
been playing a lot. We've been trying to play warned,
especially on third down, of getting him experience in there. So,
because you never know knock on wood manny, you know, stubs,
his toe, gets an ankle, whatever it is, You're gonna
(23:50):
need multiple guys that are gonna have to go in
there in critical moments. And so if we can get
some valuable experience for some guys right now, getting eight, ten,
twelve snaps a game, I think that's beneficial for us.
Speaker 12 (24:02):
Er Sorry, Michael Huff's gonna get honored. Means a lot
to the program, Jaday pretty clear what he meant to
him does a lot of things off the field, buying.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Tickets, food, et cetera.
Speaker 12 (24:10):
What's what's he meant.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
To your Yeah, No, Michael Huff has been phenomenal since
the day I arrived. What he's meant to the program
to me the he's such a great conduit between the
program today and a lot of the ex players from
before and bringing them back. He's a great resource for
our current players, a sounding board for those guys. Uh So,
(24:33):
for him to be honored Saturday is just an awesome
tribute should again be part of just a really special
day at DKR.
From Saturday night. A lot of the things I felt
like I saw to be true in the game felt
like they held true when I watched the tape. You know,
you look at at the end of the third quarter
and it's fourteen to ten. You're looking out about a
really very even ballgame. You know, from a yardist standpoint
(00:20):
third down conversions. You know, both teams had a turnover.
It was very kind of hard fought game. It's exactly
what we thought it would be.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
You know.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Unfortunately, you know, they have the drive to score, and
on that drive they had the two fourth down conversions,
which you know, credit to them for for for you know,
taking the risk for trying to convert those. It's fortunate
we didn't execute on the first fourth and one, and
it's unfortunate we jumped off sides on the second one.
You know, that's on us. We've got to be better
in those special situations in the game. It's exactly what
(00:53):
we told the team today. And then coming right out
of it, you know, they hit us with the surprise
on side kick, and so when you really look at
the gravity of from fourteen to ten to thirty five
to ten, they scored twenty one points. We ran three
plays on offense, and so you know, there's a there's
(01:13):
a lot of ways to look at the game and
what happened and what we could have done differently and
or better. But if you really just take a snapshot
of the game, that's that's when it got away from us.
And so, like I said, credit to Georgia. They played
a heck of a game, and you know they they
took their risk at opportune times and and and made
their plays and we didn't. So I think I think
(01:34):
the thing for us right now is we got to refocus.
We've got a great opportunity here the last two weeks
of the season and see what happens. And that that
first opportunity is this Saturday at home at DKR. It's
great to be back again. You know, we've only had
the one home game here that started November for about
a month and a half, so to be back home
against a long standing rival in Arkansas is something I
(01:56):
know our players are excited about. And then the idea,
you know, everyone's that want to talk about all of
the other stuff surrounding the team and the season and
what might and this might. Our focus is on what
we can control and what we can control is our
preparation and our play this Saturday. I guess a very
very dangerous Arkansas team. That the record is not indicative
(02:17):
of how well these guys have been playing. They've played
four road games, They've lost by a combined eleven points
on the road. Most most recently they lose twenty three
to twenty two at LSU, but very tight ball games.
Have got a very explosive offense, a great quarterback in Green,
who can run it, who can throw it, so they
pose a ton of challenges for us. They've got a
(02:39):
you know, top fifteen NFL draft pick defensive end. So
this is a very talented team, well coached. Coach Petrino
does a heck of a job in particular on offense
and it shows. So we got to work cut out
for us. But I think the good thing about our team,
I think that we've regrouped, we've refocused, and our focus
is on this game this Saturday, and it's one game
at a time. I'm here for the final two.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
If you have a question, right, Steve Nout, you've had
a chance to watch the film, do you still feel,
as far as the run game that there may have
been opportunities were left out there on the field or
do you still feel the same And just a second,
real quick, just what are you looking forward for the
eleven man run game going forward?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah? I think this, you know, like I said, I
thought we actually ran the ball relatively effectively. Uh, it's unfortunate.
You know, Trey takes an eight yard loss on a
run that gets bottled up and he tries to spit
back out you know where it was second and five,
And you know, we were talking about that this morning
as a team and coaching them that sometimes playing third
(03:41):
and four is a heck of a lot better than
playing third and fifteen. Ultimately convert that. But when you
just look at the flow of the game and the
amount of snaps in the game and where the game went,
you know, we knew we wanted to be aggressive. We
knew we wanted to attack him down the field, and
I thought we took enough shots to do that. You know,
would have like to have made a couple more plays,
(04:01):
but that's football. I don't think we were prepared to
abandon the run by any means. But like I said,
you know, it's fourteen to ten. We felt good about
the plan and running it and throwing it and all
the things, and the next thing you know, you look up,
it's twenty eight to ten and you have the ball
in your minus ten yard line with I think eight
(04:22):
minutes to go in the fourth quarter. And so at
that point you throw it three times, you got a punt.
Now it's thirty five to ten. So there's no runs
that are happening where you know, I think we could
have had some opportunities, But you know, I think at
the end of the day, our execution is going to
be important this Saturday. Our belief in what we're doing
in the run game is going to be important, and
we're going to have to negate some of their pass
(04:42):
rush with our ability to run the football, because if
there's one of the real strengths of them is you know,
they're playing you know, number ten now at kind of
buck defensive end, and they've got roads ninety seven on
the other side. Those guys can all rush the passer.
So we have to negate some of that with our
ability to run the ball in the middle.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Of Thomas Sarka. I know Ryan Wingo has an injured thumb.
I think he had a career high and catches how
did that affect him at all? The thumb and health wise,
Anthony Hill Junior or anybody else banged up are pretty healthy.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah. No, I don't think it affected Ryan, you know.
I mean, you know, the one, the one catch on
third down the first drive. You know, I don't think that.
I think he'd be the first one to tell you
that wasn't an issue on him making that play. Uh,
the other ball on the deep ball down down our
sideline towards the end zone would have been a great catch,
you know, was unable to make it. But you know
(05:33):
he made a couple other really good catches too, the
corner route on third down, the the deep curl route
on another third long. So I don't think that that
was an issue both both both Aunt and Ryan. We're
just we're making sure that they're gonna be okay. I'm
not ready to make that diagnosis on where they're gonna
be yet, but but feel optimistic about it.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
Hey, Kurch, what's been happening from a penalty person active?
And you know, I know obviously that's got to be
a source of frustration for you, But what's going Why
has that been a continual theme.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
We're getting called for penalties.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
Is there any particular reason why there's.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
A variety of them? Kind of along those lines.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
You played shortstop, you know that there's only so much
yelling at a guy who let a ball go between
his legs? Can do they know they went the ball
went between his legs. But when you have players who
do repeatedly commit those penalties and you've said you've addressed
him internally, when that doesn't carry over, what more can
you do to try to fix it?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, I think that's when you've got to make some
of the tough decisions, right, you know, when a player
you know, it's it's one thing is like, again, there's
a variety of penalties. What types of penalties are we getting?
And then can they be rectified? And if they can
be rectified, you know, and then they don't get rectified,
then you've got to make some of those those tough decisions.
And you know, I think that's that's the thing. You know,
(06:55):
I think it's easy to throw a blanket statement out,
what's up with the penalties? Well, what are the types
of penalties? When are they occurring?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Who?
Speaker 1 (07:01):
How are they occurring? You know, that's that's when you
got to drill deep you gotta you gotta look a
little deeper than just throwing a blanket over something.
Speaker 7 (07:11):
Yeah, coach, you know, in comparison to a year ago,
your yards on the ground has been cut in half
against SEC opponents. What's have you seen anything in particular
as to why that might be the case or how
to maybe remedy that over the next two weeks.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, you know, I think that we There's probably a
combination of things. You know. One, I felt like we
were blocking well in the run game a year ago.
I felt like we found a rhythm in the run
game with Trey a year ago. I think Trey really
hit his stride kind of the midpoint of the season,
(07:45):
maybe the OU game last year, and those two combinations,
I feel like we had real threats on the on
the outside, you know, with Matt and Isaiah and DeAndre
was going in gunner, and so I think people were
deploying a little bit differently on us. And then ultimately
there's a confidence from a play caller standpoint of where's
(08:05):
the strength of your team and what are you trying
to lean into to ultimately win. You know, last year
we were really a shut down defense, and you felt
very confident about our ability to play defense and shut
people down. I think sometimes this season a we haven't
ran it the way we would have liked. And so
do you are you comfortable going run, run and willing
(08:26):
to live with third down and whatever that is and
third down and having to convert to stay on the
field knowing if you punt it? You are you comfortable
enough to go out there and shut somebody down? And
so like the other night, Georgia's first two drives is
two touchdowns is fourteen to three, And so where's your
level of confidence of, Hey, if we run, run, pass,
we got a punt, how good do you feel about
(08:48):
it not being twenty one to three as opposed to
fourteen to three. And so you sometimes you have to
shift kind of your focus on how do you want
to attack and what do you need to do now?
Credit to the other night, our defense started mountain stops
and three and outs and things, and so games can
take a trajectory that are different than others. But I
think you have to look at at all. At the
end of the day, we have to be better at
(09:10):
running the ball. There's no question about it. Nobody is
nobody's in our building thinking, hey, we're good, but we've
got to find a way to do that. And whether
that's schematically, whether that's personnel, whether that's you know, shrinking
the plan, whether that's expanding the plan. There's a lot
of ways to get that done. But we've got to
find a way to gain yards on the ground to
(09:32):
where we aren't just a one dimensional football team.
Speaker 8 (09:37):
Yes, Steve, you've you've said in the past that you
know it's if they're drive eighty yards on you and score,
you tip your head to them. You want to make
them earn that. They seem to be getting a lot
of easy passes West Coast type stuff where they were
dumping it off. What's the fi line you walk between
blitzing price coverage or just making them earn it.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, No, I thought that. I thought they did have
a good plan on some of the balls to the perimeter.
And you know, number one, it was scary because he
can go buy you in a heartbeat, and he was
very electric, and so we tried to play with a
little bit more of a cushion there. I did think
we had some opportunities where we stayed on top. The
unfortunate part was, to your point, some of the flat routes.
(10:21):
Some of the crossing routes when they completed, they turned
into explosives. And that's where we've got to be better.
That's where we've got to populate the ball better. We've
got to leverage the ball better. And if it's a
gain of fourteen to fifteen yards over the middle, that
is what it is. They hit the one over the
middle and he goes out the back door and runs
it down to the six yard line. They you know,
they created explosives that way. And then on the other
(10:43):
side of it is we had some real breakdowns in
coverage and there was lack of I don't want to
say lack of communication, was lack of communication and being
reciprocated to where one person's communicating the other one's playing
the call as it's being called. And so, you know,
I think on the corner route the first touchdown pass,
(11:04):
we screw that up. On the seam route to sixteen,
we screw that up. And so there were some things
there that we got to play it better, and we're
more than capable of playing it better. And so that
gives me some confidence knowing we can play it better.
We're not sitting downstairs like we have no answers, but
we need to play it better for sure.
Speaker 9 (11:21):
Coach, you start with the thirteam play drive in the
beginning of the game, but then through the rest of
the first half three of the four drives had four
for your plays. But what happened in the next drives
that changed on Georgia side? And then what does your
team need to do going forward in that kind of
post scripted area of the game to play better.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, you know, I think one, we got to catch
the ball a little bit better. I think two, we
got to throw the ball a little bit better when
we have some opportunities. And then and then three we
got to make sure that we continue to try to
call things that put players in position to have success.
Speaker 10 (11:52):
John, Coach, you talk about too, guys regrouping and refocusing
and not worrying about everything that's being said.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Whether it's CFP or whatever.
Speaker 10 (11:59):
Is that easier had than done at this point.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I don't know. You know, I feel very confident in
our team and so that that they can do that again.
I thought we had a great meeting this morning. I
think young people are really resilient in general, and I
think when you give them a platform to to be
resilient that they'll do that. I think them understanding there
(12:25):
is a light at the end of the tunnel here
if we can handle our business and do it the
right way, and so, you know, like anything in life,
when there's hope, we can strive a little further and
stay on task with what we need to do. But
but again, this group gives me no reason that they
won't do that. But again, time will tell, right, I'm
gonna sit here and make any guarantees if if we can't,
(12:47):
if we don't have the ability to do that, but
I'm confident that we can. We'll see. We'll see over
the next four or five days how we do.
Speaker 11 (12:56):
Steve, what would you say the main reasons are this
team is some achieved according to who well in your
preseason number one. I think most people would agree three
losses is not achieving which are capable of.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I mean, I guess that's into who voted us number one. Okay,
What I think is that this team has competed their tailoff.
They've been faced with a lot of different adversity and injuries,
and a lot of stuff has come across this team's plate,
and I'm very proud of them with their resiliency. You know,
(13:30):
at the end of the day, at the University of Texas,
we're held to a very high standard, and the standard
is to compete for championships year in and year out,
and we're going to play the best teams in the country.
We're going to schedule the best teams in the country.
But by the end of the season, we'll play of
our twelve regular season opponents, five of those teams will
be top ten teams when we played them, so nearly
(13:51):
half our schedule, and we have an opportunity at the
end of the regular season to do something that nobody's
done since twenty nineteen, and that's beat three top ten
ranked teams in the regular season. Last team to do
that was LSU with Joe Burrow. So have we been
faced with a pretty difficult schedule? Have we been faced
with high expectations? Sure, but that's why we came here,
So we'll be okay.
Speaker 12 (14:13):
Roder start the progression of Arch early on, even in victory,
there was all some questions about, you know, his his growth.
Now he's not really a topic when it comes to
what's going on with his team other than the positive.
What have you seen? Has he kind of gotten over
a little bit of a humpy Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Man, I just think that the guy does what he
continues to do. He puts his head down and works.
He tries to be a great leader. You know, he
assumes responsibility when when he could do something better. He
picks people up when when somebody else makes mistakes. I mean,
that's the that's the sign of a guy who's maturing
and is very comfortable in his own skin. I've been
(14:50):
very proud of Arch. These aren't all easy games, and
that's not fun in the fourth quarter when you're down, uh,
you know, multiple scores and you're and you're trying to
get in the end zone and they got their ears peering,
pinned back and rushing the passer. But he competed like
he always does, and he'll prepare again this week to
go out and play really well. Coach, do you consider
this a trap game?
Speaker 11 (15:10):
After the disappointing lost Saturday, the Aggie's looming the day after.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Thanksgiving, it's a scary game. Yeah, I motivate this week. Yeah.
I think it's a very scary game because this is
a very dangerous Arkansas team and we address that with
the team this morning. You know, you put up their
last five games. The score of all those games, and
like I said, twenty three to twenty two. I think
first LSU the Auburn game, Auburn gets a late score
(15:34):
to make it thirty four. I think twenty three something
like that. A and M's forty five, forty two, Mississippi
State's thirty eight thirty five. Tennessee is thirty four to
thirty one. So they got their attention real quick. You
turn the tape on, it getses their attention real quick.
But I think the other side of it is, man,
we're restoring a great rivalry and first time for Arkansas
(15:56):
to be back at DKR in quite some time, and
so I know our guys are excited about that too.
They've had to go there twice now and they know
what that environment was like. Uh so for them to
come here to playing DKR, I know our guys are
excited about the opportunity, but we need to be careful.
I'll definitely say that you're right.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I'm Steve.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
A couple of minutes ago you said that offensively, all
need to catch the ball better, and I'm kind of wondering,
how concerned are you at the drops and how would
you great kind of this receiving group their development this season.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, I think our receivers have grown, you know. Again,
I I'm I was frustrated early in the season for
the lack of continuity and and just with Arch and
all of the receivers. I think he found his stride,
probably with Parker the earliest. Then he and Ryan kind
of found their stride, and then DeAndre and then Emmett
(16:45):
and so I really wish we could have found all
that throughout training camp. We just didn't. I think they've
grown better together. And nobody wants to drop the ball, Okay,
I mean nobody goes out there and breaks the huddle
and says, hey, I'm gonna drop this ball, and I
feel good about it. We're all trying really hard. I
think there's some fundamental things we can keep working on
with them, but I think it's also them trusting their
(17:06):
ability to go out and do it and do it
in critical moments. And again, it's not all the receivers.
You know, there's tight ends that got to make plays,
there's runners that got to make plays. But at the
end of the day, this group's a talented group. Like
I said, I think the rapport and continuity with Arch
continues to get better and their playmaking has improved. Now
there's a level of consistency of doing that, and like
(17:29):
I said, that's why we're never a finished product in
season right. We always have to continually try to develop
our players to improve throughout the season. And the receivers
are no different for us.
Speaker 13 (17:38):
You love as you kind of dive into some of
those miscommunications on the back end and some of the
penalties you were talking about, how much of that is
maybe uncharacteristically undisciplined, and at this point in the year
you surprise some of those things are still happening.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
I think, like I said, seasons as they go, you
ride the wave of where your issues are. I don't,
like I said, I don't think anybody is a finished
perfect product even right now, and we're all trying to
get better. You know, we were playing without Michael taff
for a couple of weeks, We didn't play with Jilani
the week before, it gets knocked out the first drive
(18:12):
of the game. Now they're back in the game and
so trusting that communication is one of the key components
to play in really good pass defense, and the lack
of that was the issue where we have to get
back to that. I don't think that's a really hard
fix for us. I think that's something that we can
get fixed and fixed fairly quickly. I wish we could
have done it in game. We just couldn't quite get
(18:34):
it right. But again, we're gonna there's gonna be some issues.
We didn't fit a couple of runs that that we
should have been fitting way better than we did. And
so there's things defensively that we can improve upon and
improve quickly upon. And we're gonna need to because Arkansas
is gonna challenge us that way.
Speaker 14 (18:49):
Right, Steve, you had to change out coaches in the
back end of your defense. Can you just give us a,
you know, kind of an update on how you think
that's gone this season.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Those guys are all really good coaches. You know, it's
great having coach a keenan staff. I think Mark mark
Orfe is a rising star. Kenoto Hudson was with us
last year as an analyst and now he's a full
time guy. So we're fortunate to have those guys on
staff doing the job that they do.
Speaker 10 (19:17):
Hey, Steve uh Justice Terry seven snaps, four tackles, is
he's someone you want to get more involved in, you know,
these next two games.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, I'm really proud of Justice. You know, he has
he has really come on, you know, from where he
was a couple of months ago to where he is today.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
It's a credit to his work ethic. I think it's
a credit to UH, to coach Baker and and and
the work that they're putting in. I think it was
great for Justice. He spends a lot of time even
now periodically throughout the week on scout team. So he's
going to DJ Campbell, He's going against Trevor Gooseby. I
think that has helped his development as well. But but man,
(19:53):
he's surely coming on, and I'm very proud of him that. Again,
here's a guy a month ago could have just waved
the white flag and said, well wait till next year.
But he's continued to work at his craft and he's
getting better, and he's a guy who is going to
continue to earn more playing time.
Speaker 15 (20:10):
Back to back games where there were scruggles in the
fourth quarter, where there are common themes to those two
poor finishes, and I remember when there were slow storats
you kind of adjusted practice to address that is there
a way to address now.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
I think there's ways we can address that. To your
point that that we can we look at some things,
especially on Tuesday and Wednesday in practice kind of different scenarios,
you know, so it's hard to it's hard to mirror them.
At the end of the day. I think it's about
mental intensity and focus and and you know, focusing on
(20:41):
the next play and not getting caught up in the
scoreboard and what might happen if this, if that, and
that's how distraction kicks in. And that's how you missed
that communication or you don't hear that call, or you're
not aware of the situation that you're in. And so
we got to improve upon that, and we got to
do a great job of coaches of reiterating that and
iving that point home. So it's hard for me to
(21:03):
say there's parallels there. They're just different games.
Speaker 14 (21:05):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
The results very similar, the score is very similar, but
you know, different different situations.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
If you will, Steve, I think last three games, you're
giving up over three hundred yards passing as a team.
Do you see any commonalities and how those teams have
attacked your defense and how do you kind of address.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Well, I think The first one is explosive pass plays.
You know, we we were so good and have been
historically so good at least the past couple of years
of not giving up the expose explosive plays. And I
think that to me, when you when you see that
yardage in passing, the explosive pass plays are something that
we've got to get that number back down. And explosive
(21:49):
passes don't always occur where they throw it over your head.
Now we've had a couple of those, but to me,
it's more about our ability to get people on the
ground when they get completions. And so so when you
start talking about playing in space, you start talking about leveraging,
and when you're tackling, we start talking about populating the ball.
We start talking about using proper angles when you have
(22:10):
a second tackler to force the cutback, or using the sidelines.
Those are things that we've got to improve upon because
I think that's where a lot of the explosives have
come from. People are going to complete passes like that's football, right,
but we got to make sure we get them on
the ground, and along with that, our communications got to
be better so that we're in the right spots when
they do complete balls that we can leverage the ball
(22:32):
and get people on the ground.
Speaker 10 (22:34):
Got your last question, Roger, Yes, Steve, we saw multiple
guys opposite of Manny on Saturday. Are you looking for
someone to just kind of step up and take that
position with consistent play or do you prefer that rotation
over there?
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Well, I think that was something you know, from a
couple of weeks ago, we said we were going to
continually look at guys and try to develop some of
these guys, and like, I was really proud of Caid
on some plays, and there were some growing pains for
Caid Saturday night. You know, they throw a hitcher out
and in front of him at the end of the
first quarter and he makes a tackle. It's about a
gain of six yards. The very next play to start
the second quarter, they tried him on a double move,
(23:08):
a hitch and go, and he stayed on top. He
defended it really well. Then the quarterback resets and hits
branch and it's about a gain of forty down to
our six. And then on third down they run the
slant return on him and he has outside leverage and
he has help inside with Jilani, and that's just the
experience of third and five, of knowing where your help
is and be able to sit on that top shoulder.
(23:29):
And it's probably a dead play there. So it's hard
to get that experience without actually doing it, and so
I think there's some growth there for him. Obviously, Jalen's
been playing a lot. We've been trying to play warned,
especially on third down, of getting him experience in there. So,
because you never know knock on wood manny, you know, stubs,
his toe, gets an ankle, whatever it is, You're gonna
(23:50):
need multiple guys that are gonna have to go in
there in critical moments. And so if we can get
some valuable experience for some guys right now, getting eight, ten,
twelve snaps a game, I think that's beneficial for us.
Speaker 12 (24:02):
Er Sorry, Michael Huff's gonna get honored. Means a lot
to the program, Jaday pretty clear what he meant to
him does a lot of things off the field, buying.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Tickets, food, et cetera.
Speaker 12 (24:10):
What's what's he meant.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
To your Yeah, No, Michael Huff has been phenomenal since
the day I arrived. What he's meant to the program
to me the he's such a great conduit between the
program today and a lot of the ex players from
before and bringing them back. He's a great resource for
our current players, a sounding board for those guys. Uh So,
(24:33):
for him to be honored Saturday is just an awesome
tribute should again be part of just a really special
day at DKR.
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Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.