Steve Sarkisian Reveals How Longhorns Didn't Lose Their Edge After Month Off

For the first time in the College Football Playoff era, the Texas Longhorns are one of the final four teams.

On top of it being a testament to just how far this program has come under Steve Sarkisian, it also shows just how good this team was in a year that saw eight teams with legitimate cases to make it in the final weeks. However, in making the College Football Playoff, there is a built-in difficulty that not many people realize, which is the fact that there is so much time off between games.

The Longhorns last played on Dec. 2, and won't hit an opponent until Jan. 1 when they take on Washington in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Obviously this helps injured players get healthy, and allows the teams to scheme against one another but it may also take away that killer instinct. It's something that Steve Sarkisian addressed when speaking to the media this week.

"Yeah, I think part of it was making sure that we did enough good-on-good in practice," said Sarkisian. "Especially, early on in the prep. That we kept the speed of the competitiveness, of what a game would feel like in a practice setting. Not necessarily to scrimmage all the time, but at the line of scrimmage, offensive line, they need to feel the speed and physicality of our defensive line."

Sarkisian continued, explaining that it's important to practice with pace in order to simulate what the games will be like, especially for his secondary who will be tasked with covering an elite receiver group.

"Our DBs need to feel the speed and the rhythm of our passing game because that's critical to, you know, when that ball gets kicked off next Monday night, it's all going to be fast," Sarkisian said

Sarkisian, who has actually participated in the playoff before as an offensive coordinator, also revealed what could be identified as a playoff hack. It's always difficult to keep teenagers and 20-somethings interested in tasks, but Sarkisian explained that he has staggered their game plan to keep the team engaged throughout the whole process. He does this rather than doing it all at once, which could lead to focus drifting elsewhere.

Longhorns Prepared For Sugar Bowl's 'Tough Environment'

We will see on Monday how this worked out, and if Texas can exact their revenge.

According to ESPN, the Longhorns are favored over the Huskies for their Jan. 1 meeting. ESPN's matchup predictor giving them a 69.2 percent chance of winning.