Steve Sarkisian Reveals Longhorns Have Not Talked About SEC Move 'One Time'

The Texas Longhorns are operating with the business as usual mentality despite the move to the SEC.

Despite the college football news cycles constantly being flooded with stories surrounding conference realignment, the Texas Longhorns are not dialed in on the ever-changing landscape of college football.

Speaking to the media on Monday, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian addressed things such as standouts, depth, and how little the move to the SEC is influencing the team.

While other programs in conferences like the ACC and Big 12 could be worried about their future, Texas has long been sitting pretty after they and Oklahoma got the ball rolling on conference realignment with their jump to the SEC. Something that Sarkisian hinted at, expressing that the topic hasn't come up once.

Steve Sarkisian

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When asked if there was any "added motivation" by having the SEC patch on their jerseys and field, Sarkisian downplayed the move in a big way.

"We haven't talked about it once," explained Sarkisian. "You know our motivation should come internally, and we've been that way for quite some time. We try not to get motivated by external factors, because I think that's when you take those dips in performance. You try to look across the field and "now I'm supposed to play a certain way because that's who’s over there".

"We want to set the standard for the way we play. Quite frankly, we want to be the thermostat and we want to set our temperature, we want to play a certain way into that standard and that's what we coach to, that's what we play to. I think naturally as we get a little closer to the season, we'll start to navigate the schedule, look at it, was it going to take in prepping for opponents but right now we're trying to set a really good foundation for this team on the way we want to play this fall."

While the head coach isn't focused on it, the move to the SEC has Texas slated to play projected No. 1 Georgia, Arkansas on the road again, a power program in the Florida Gators, and will also rekindle their rivalry with Texas A&M. No game should be treated as more than the other, but the Longhorns are likely well aware that from now on, they will have to play each opponent as tough as the next as there aren’t many days off in the SEC.

Those second-half collapses we have seen in the past couple of years, if they continue it could be quite a brutal reality check for the team.