Steve Sarkisian is leading Texas football against his former employer and No. 1-ranked team, Alabama, in Week 2 but already sounds resigned to failure.
Quinn Ewers made his Texas football debut this past week as, after a slip-up early, he and the Longhorns dismantled Louisiana-Monroe. But the competition is about to ramp up in a big way as head coach Steve Sarkisian and his team welcome his former employer and the No. 1 team in college football, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Anyone with two eyes knows that Bama is a title contender once again this season behind last year’s Heisman winner Bryce Young. But Sark’s familiarity with the program adds a new element to it, as does the Longhorns’ impending move to the SEC.
So that made it all the more surprising when the team’s head coach sounded like he was padding fans and the media alike for Texas to lose on Saturday in Austin, per ESPN.
“It’s one game, you know?” Sarkisian said. “It’s a chance for us to do what we love to do. I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is [thinking] this is going to be the game that’s going to define our program. It might, it might not. I’m not that concerned about it. I’m more concerned about just the way we play the game.”
Texas football: Steve Sarkisian already sounds resigned to defeat against Alabama
Talking about “one game” and said game not defining the program sure sounds like coach-speak for “we’re about to get 50 dropped on us and we can’t keep up, so don’t discredit us because of this game.”
In fairness, Sark’s not wrong in that assessment. Even if Ewers is the truth, Texas is still a far cry from where Bama is in terms of the overall talent.
Having said that, it’s not exactly what you want to hear from the head coach at a program such as this, particularly one who is trying to build the program back to its former glory. You want to hear fight, passion and a belief in this team. What Sarkisian said doesn’t really hit those notes.
We’ll see if his tune changes throughout the week or even after Saturday’s matchup, but Longhorns fans can’t be thrilled with the way their head coach is talking about the Alabama game.
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