Steve Sarkisian Reveals How Texas is Preparing for Ohio State’s Game Plan

The first game of the college football season feels like a complex chess move used to set up the remainder of a team's schedule.

For the best programs in the nation, their season-opener often acts as a tune-up match — an opportunity to shake off any offseason rust. It also gives future opponents a chance to key in on potential weaknesses.

But it’s naive to act as if those top teams don’t know that.

Steve Sarkisian understands that, and it’s part of why he believes what Ohio State showed against Ball State last week doesn’t give the Texas Longhorns many hints on how they can finally thwart the Buckeyes.

How Steve Sarkisian Has Game Planned For Ohio State

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In Thursday’s media availability, Sarkisian equated college football's season opener to the NFL preseason. It’s part of why he hesitated to use too much of that game tape to prepare for Ohio State.

“I promise you, what they ran last week against Ball State, we're not going to get,” Sarkisian said. “It's like the NFL preseason, right? What guys run in the preseason is not what they're running in week one, two, and three of the of the regular season in the NFL.”

Rather than rely on the week one game film, Sarkisian’s one-upped the chess match, opting to rely on previous seasons’ tape.

“Most notably, you go back and you study the tape from last season,” Sarkisian said. “You go back and watch the tape from years past, and then you you try to make some educated guesstimations of what you might get.”

Furthermore, Sarkisian noted that he's prepared to make in-game adjustments for much of Saturday’s game. This will be necessary when game-planning for the Buckeyes’ offense, which enters this season with a brand-new coordinator.

The Buckeyes and Their Two NFL-Level Coordinators

Ohio State Buckeyes offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Retaining defensive coordinator Matt Patricia over the offseason and hiring former Atlanta Falcons head coach and Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith gives Ohio State one of the most pro-level coaching staffs in college football.

Texas has experience against Patricia, who helped keep Texas to just seven points last season, but Smith is a completely different story.

Against Ball State, Smith ran a fairly mundane offense. But that’s not to say it wasn’t effective.

There are certain aspects of the Buckeyes' offense that Texas can anticipate.

Although Smith has been given control over the scheme, the Buckeyes aren’t expected to completely abandon what has worked in years past.

Smith has also traditionally built his offenses around the run game, particularly wide-zone concepts, using similar formations and personnel to disguise play-action and create different looks after the snap.

While the Longhorns can study Smith’s previous offenses and Ohio State’s tape from years past, they won’t know exactly how those pieces fit together until Saturday.

For Sarkisian, the rest of the chess match will have to be solved on the fly.

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