Stephen Spillman-USA TODAY Sports
Steve Sarkisian Reveals How Texas Will Stay Focused Ahead of Matchup With No. 1 Alabama
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Steve Sarkisian will face arguabley his toughest test as a head coaching career on Saturday, when the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide come to Austin.
At Washington, he faced Pete Carroll at USC. As the head coach of the Texas Longhorns he has faced Sam Pittman at Arkansas, and Lincoln Riley of Oklahoma, Dave Aranda of Baylor, and Mike Gundy at Oklahoma, Oklahoma State.
However, none of that compares to the coach that most call the greatest in the history of College Football -- his former mentor, Nick Saban.
“Another great challenge. Very good football team, very well coached," Sarkisian said. "Good team, good players, good schemes, but ultimately this is about us and our ability to prepare, our ability to practice really well, our ability to focus on what we need to do to play to the best of our ability.”
It is a challenge that Sarkisian and his team look forward to with a great amount of anticipation.
So much so, that the game plan has been cemented since the beginning of the Summer.
Not because of arrogance or intimidation, but because Sarkisian and company knew the magnitude of this game.
“This gameplan was probably done about three months ago," Sarkisian said. "I’m sure their gameplan was done probably three months ago. I don’t think either of us thought going into Week 1 we were going to see something new that was drastically going to change what we wanted to do.”
The rest of the nation knows the magnitude of the game as well.
After all, Texas and Alabama are two of of the winnings programs in college football.
The Horns currently sit tied for fourth all time in wins (929), 32 conference titles, and four national championships (five unclaimed). While Alabama is tied for second all time in wins (943) with Ohio State, 32 conference titles, and 18 national championships.
Suffice it to say, a lot of history will be on the field at DKR on Saturday.
So how does Sarkisian keep his players grounded in the moment and focused on the task at hand?
By looking inward.
“I think the biggest thing for us is to be enamored with us," Sarkisian said. "You can get caught up in being worried about Alabama, You can get caught up in being worried about Gameday being here, You can get caught up in being worried about Fox being here, You can get caught up in all the stuff that is irrelevant to us being able to play good football. but “we need to be enamored with us, focused on us, making sure that we’re doing the things necessary for us to do our job really well.”
Even if they manage to avoid the drama and the pagentry that will come along with Saturday's game, the odds will be stacked against the Longhorns.
Currently, Texas sits as a 20.5-point underdog to the Crimson Tide.
In other words, it very well could be a program defining afternoon in Austin.
Well... at least to the outside world. Inside the program, the mood is very different.
“I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is this is going to be the game that is 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. All along, my goal is to be in Dallas on December 3. This game has no impact on that. I want to play really well. I want to make sure that our guys play our style of football, our brand of football, and do it the way I know we’re capable of doing it.”
Kick off against the Tide is set for 11 am.
You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan
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