The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Video: Steve Sarkisian press conference
11.15.2021 | Football
Football head coach Steve Sarkisian previewed Saturday's game at West Virginia.
Football head coach Steve Sarkisian Weekly Press Conference
Opening Statement
"I think to open some things up and just go back to the last ball game, clearly, the first half of that game was not the competitive football that I know we are capable of playing. When you really break it down in the first half, and then in the totality of the game, the turnovers were very difficult to overcome ... four turnovers in the game, three in the first half, two of which came late in the second quarter, which really turned the table. We are talking about a 14-14 ball game that ultimately flips itself to 35 to 14. At the end of the first half, I was impressed with our guys and their ability to come back and fight in the second half. Ultimately, (we) outscored them 35 to 14 in the second half, and then put ourselves in position to get to overtime. When we get to overtime, now you're talking about one-play games. Obviously, they made the play on the two-point play and we were unable to make it. We put ourselves in that position because of the way we played the first half. So, I don't think that I'm stating anything that isn't kind of obvious to what happened in the ballgame. Now, what happened? Obviously, the turnovers on offense were killers because I thought we moved the ball well in the game. I've never been part of a game where you lose the turnover battle four-to-nothing and you win. The odds are over 90 percent the team that wins that turnover battle is going to win the ballgame. So, clearly the ball is an issue. Our inability to stop the run effectively on defense, and then our inability to get off the field on third down on defense, became the bigger issues with them possessing the football in the game, and having extended drives and taking advantage of that. That aspect of it, clearly, we've got things to work on.
A couple things from an injury standpoint, (sophomore running back) Bijan (Robinson) had a dislocated elbow, so he'll be out the remainder of the season. (Senior defensive back) Josh Thompson has a fractured fibula, so he'll be out the remainder of the season. (Freshman running back) Jonathan Brooks has a shoulder injury that's really going to have him week-to-week, we'll see how it goes, if we can get him back before the end of the season. I think big picture wise for us, the first thing is we have to control what we can control. That is our preparation and our focus on West Virginia for this ballgame this weekend. Clearly, everybody's upset, we're upset. Everybody feels the frustration in what has occurred; but I can assure you, nobody is more upset, nobody is more frustrated than we are in the performance; we put in a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of work, not to play the football that is the standard here at The University of Texas. That is directly on me. It is my job to get our players prepared to play and to put them in the right mental frame of mind, in the right physical frame of mind, in the right position on game day to ultimately go perform. Then that focus goes to the players to go do that.
We have our work cut out for us on that end, we have a few depth issues that have popped up now that we've got to navigate our way through. That is football, that is football in November, and you have to find your way through it. You have to field your team and put your team in the best position to have success, and that's what we can control. That is what we will control this week against West Virginia.
On junior quarterback Casey Thompson and redshirt freshman Hudson Card
I didn't bench Casey in the game; that was the plan going in and they were very aware of what that plan was. I thought I'd actually shared it with you guys. I'm not certain but if I did not, I apologize. The idea going into the game was Casey was going to play the first two series of the game, then Hudson was going come in the third series, and then we were going to monitor it from there. Obviously, Casey gets the touchdown. I thought Hudson actually had a nice drive for him, unfortunately for Hudson, two turnovers there in those drives. At that point I thought, 'Okay, we are going to go back to Casey.' Casey competed his tail off and played extremely well. Going into this week's game, Casey is going to be our starting quarterback. I think we can identify Casey, but I think it's a microcosm of the entire roster. It is about consistency. It is about playing with consistency at whatever our role is on our football team, for any player. I think for us as a team, the one thing I want to get done here and in the final two ball games is: I want to see us play a complete football game in all three phases. Looking back to the Iowa State game, I thought our defense played really well the first half of that game. Unfortunately, we did not play great offensive football, and we only had a seven to three lead when, potentially, we could have had a seventeen to three lead; that could have changed the complexion of that game. Then, the second half comes, they hit the two big plays, away we go. This Saturday came, we moved the ball well, but the turnovers occurred, we didn't play great defense this Saturday.
On sophomore running back Bijan Robinson
I've said it all along; who he represents, as a human being and as a person is even better than what everybody gets to see on Saturday on the field. This guy embodies what a true champion looks like. He is a tremendous teammate, he is a great leader, he has an unbelievable work ethic, and by the way, he's really talented. I think we saw all of that here for the first 10 games of the season. He is a warrior; he wants the ball. He wants the opportunities to get the ball in his hands, whether it is in the run game or the pass game. We want him to get healthy and get himself back because I think he's primed for a big-time junior season.
On the Longhorns' struggles defensively
I think one, to be fair to our players this is their third consecutive year in a new defensive scheme. So, there is a little bit of a lack of continuity for them of calls, how we play plays, zone coverage drops, how we match certain routes, the pressure packages, all those things. And when you have consistency in a scheme, like we've played some teams here, not necessarily last week, but previous to that, who has been in the same system over time, and they're a veteran unit now they're working really well together almost subconsciously. They already know what the next guy is going to do and the adjustments are quickly made. We're still in the phase of trying to keep getting things taught. And we try to practice the look that we think we're going to get, but all of a sudden, we get a little different formation, or a different motion, or a little different way to run a play, and now there's a little bit of hesitation on our part. I'll be honest with you, we're hesitating, and not fitting things the way we're capable of fitting them. So that's the race force, right? How do we get to a point where everybody is so comfortable in the system and in the scheme that they can really play to their capability? And so, I think, that's part of it for our staff. I think that, clearly, we're frustrated that we're not playing the way that we think we're capable of playing. But part of it is, we got to get our guys to really feel and understand the scheme and work hand in hand with one another and we're just not quite there yet.
