All right, Steve Sarkisian,
fourth year at Texas. Here we go, joining us live. Game of the weekend
against Michigan. Former head coach at
Washington to USC. I'm so fired up for this stuff. You had a lot of influences. You had Pete Carroll, you had
Dan Quinn, you had Nick Saban, but yet you've developed
your own program. I can feel the swagger. I can feel the attitude. Here's my question. I think all of us in the media
are too tough on coaches. I feel this is actually
your first team and roster that I look at and
I go, oh, that's a national championship team. I looked at you last year
and I thought, they're close but I don't trust the back end. Is that fair to say? That's not a knock
on last year's team, but I feel this
team's different. I just do, Sark. What do you think? Well, I thought we were
pretty good last year. [LAUGHTER] N/A We ran into a hot Michael
Penix there in the semis, but hey, we didn't play our best
game on either side of the ball. But I like our team this year. I would think, when
you look at our roster, I think we only have four
or five guys on our team that were here
before I got here. The rest of the
players, we recruited. A lot of these players have been
here for two, three, and four years now, and have really
grown up in the culture and understand what we're about,
and we've got great leadership. But I also think
we've got great depth. I would say, the one thing
about this year's team is we definitely have
more depth than we've had in any of our other years. And our two deep. Sometimes, you can't
tell the difference between our 1s and our 2s,
and that's great for us. That's great for us right
now, early in the season. We can play a lot of players,
especially in the heat, when we're at home. But also for the
longevity of this season. To think that we
kicked off August 31 and we're hoping
to play January 20, we're going to need all
the depth that we have. OK, you lost a
great tight end, you lost two great
receivers-- one of them late first
of the Chiefs-- you lost a running back I like. Are you going to be as
dynamic offensively? Because that's a lot of NFL
talent that walked out the door. We lost three receivers. The other one's playing for
the Rams now too, George-- That's right.
That's right. Yep, Jordan. Yeah. What I liked about
the way we played Saturday was the efficiency
we played with offensively. I think there's a nice blend of
new faces on our offensive side of the ball, we have some
transfers at receiver and tight end, but we also
have some true freshmen that have stepped up. But we also have
some guys that kind of waited their turn last year. But I think that the most
important thing is, we've got a veteran offensive line. We're returning four of our five
starters on the offensive front. We've got a third year
starting quarterback. And so if you want to be good on
the offensive side of the ball, the quarterback and the
offensive line are critical. And then I think we
filled in some nice pieces around those elements. And like I said, I
thought we played really efficient game, Saturday. We showed the explosiveness,
we showed the speed and space, we showed the physicality in
which we like to play with. Quinn Ewers. Now, is there an advantage
to playing Michigan early? Harbaugh's gone, new staff,
although it's the same kind of physical culture. N/A This is a tough one. This is a blue blood. It's a big game. It's high leverage. Is it an advantage to
play Michigan early? I don't know. There's plenty of
new faces, you know. And I think there's one
thing about Michigan that what Coach Harbaugh did and
now what Coach Moore is doing is, when you think
about this program, it's three consecutive years
they've gone to the college football playoff. COLIN: Wow. Naturally, that's capped
off last year with them being national champs. The amount of draft
picks that they've had, 13, I believe,
last year, I think they're 41 and 3 in
their last 44 games, they've won 16 games
in a row, they've won 23 straight games at
home, in the Big House, so this is a great program. As much as it is about this
current team they have, it's about the program, the
development, what they've done. And so the harder part
for us isn't about that they're going to
be a quality opponent, it's about some
of the new faces. And then naturally, from
a staff perspective, Wink Martindale is a
defensive coordinator. We've only got one
game sample size of him as a defensive
coordinator at Michigan. So some of those things can be
a little bit more difficult. But at the end of the day,
it's a great opportunity to go play Michigan in the Big House. First time ever, Colin,
in the regular season that Texas is meeting Michigan. And so when you think about
those two iconic programs coming together, and it's pretty
humbling for myself that I get to be on the sideline
leading the Texas Longhorns. What did you say to Quinn Ewers? You played quarterback
in college, you've had a lot of
great quarterbacks. What was the one thing,
after the season, that you told Quinn Ewers? I mean, you do this with
all your quarterbacks. "Here's what we're going to
work on in the off-season." What is the one
thing that you said, hey, let's get better at this-- Because you've made
your mark with him. There's no-- even diet
wise, you've changed it. What's the one thing you said,
Quinn, let's work on this? Let's make this a point of
attack in the off-season? This is your
team, go lead them. Really, it was about leadership. We knew we were going to have
to replace all those pieces, and we knew we were going to
have to bring in some transfers, we knew we were going to have
to rely on some young players on the perimeter. And it was going to
take Quinn leading them. It was going to
take Quinn getting the rapport with those
receivers and the tight end. It was going to take Quinn
stepping up into that leadership role where Jordan Whittington
and Jaylan Ford and those guys have moved on from. And so that's been
our focus, and he's done a tremendous job of that. You can feel his presence. I think he instills confidence
and belief into everybody in the organization,
not just his teammates, and that's what quarterbacks do. That's why it's the most
important position in sports. If you've ever-- you
ever been to Gillette, and when Tom Brady
took the field, it was almost like
a sigh of relief for everybody in the stands. Like, OK, Tom's here,
we're good to go. And I'm sure it's the same way
in Kansas City with Pat Mahomes and so on and so forth. So the quarterback is a powerful
guy, not only with his play, but I just think in the
presence and the leadership that he provides. Couple of minutes left. I would argue, in
a 12-team playoff-- If I was a coach, I think
I'd be more aggressive. Because sometimes, in college
football's history, it's like-- I'm not saying anybody
coaches not to lose, but I think everybody's going
to lose a game potentially, even the good teams. Does the 12-team
playoff, does it matter to you at all or is
it like-- just go, Saturdays are Saturdays? I mean, I think it matters. There's still some
strategy involved, especially if you have to
play in the first round, you sure love to have home field
advantage and get a home game and not have to go back to
Michigan in December, right? And you sure would love
to win your conference and to get a bye
in the first round. So I do think that matters. I don't think
we're out here just trying to be reckless
and take shots and go for it on fourth down. I do think there's a rhyme
and a reason to everything that we're trying to
accomplish and what we're trying to do and develop
in our team and our program. But in the end, I do think it
allots you to play in games like this and not feel like,
man, if we don't win this game, we have to be perfect
the rest of the way. I do think it allots
you to expose your team to some tough environments, to
play against quality opponents, to get yourself ready
for conference play, and then not have to
feel the repercussions if you don't come out on top. On the flip side of
that, man, it can serve as a great springboard. You go into the big house and
get this win, what it can do for the rest of your season
and the confidence of some of the players in your
program that are just getting, maybe, their second game of
exposure to big-time football. 12 and 2, won the big 12,
they're pivoting to the SEC, and I think their roster,
along with Georgia, is the best in that conference. I only got a minute left. I know you coach Texas, did you
just get a couple of minutes of that USC game at all, Sark? Did your-- How did I know you were
going to ask me, man? How did I know? You were so giddy. You were so giddy. You probably went for a
walk the next morning right around Manhattan beach, man,
and you were just-- you were kind of throwing
your victory sign up there, just excited about it. Hook 'em. Great seeing you, Sark.