Sarkisian's First Alamo Team Gave Up Ton of Points; He's Trying to Avoid Repeat

The last time Steve Sarkisian and the University of Washington football team were involved in the Alamo Bowl, it was 11 years ago, they were on the same side and the Huskies gave up 67 points.

Broken down, it was 9 touchdowns, a field goal, 8 extra-point kicks and a two-point conversion pass served up by the UW, fueled by a way-too-generous 777 yards of scorched-earth total offense permitted to the Baylor Bears and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Robert Griffin III.

It was such a futile and embarrassing defensive showing,, defensive coordinator Nick Holt, linebackers coach Mike Cox and safeties coach Jeff Mills were fired within days of the big giveaway in San Antonio.

Sarkisian finds himself back in the Alamo, yet on the other side of the fence this time, more than a little concerned about getting lit up again by a Kalen DeBoer-coached Husky team that averages 40.8 points and 521.7 yards of total offense per outing.

"These guys, they score a lot of points and they throw it around — I wish I could do a clinic with Coach DeBoer," Sarkisian said while laughing nervously, this after almost scolding a bowl rep for reminding him of the 2011 point fest. "They score on everybody, it doesn't matter. The helmet doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who they're playing, they go score."

The Longhorns, to their credit, now follow the lead of former Husky defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski these days.

He left Montlake two seasons ago, fleeing Jimmy Lake's program, maybe looking down the road and seeing instability. Or he simply just took a much bigger paycheck, watching his yearly income increase from $980,000 with the Huskies to $1.7 million at Texas.

Kwiatkowski, who coached at the UW for seven seasons, leads a Longhorns defense that permits a reasonable 21.7 points and 362 yards of total offense per game, though the Longhorns did get lit up for 41 points by Oklahoma State and 37 by West Virginia.

Against the Huskies, he likely will have to go without his second-leading tackler in senior outside linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, a 22-game starter who is expected to opt out of the Alamo Bowl and turn his attention to his NFL interests. Overshown will finish with 96 tackles, 4 sacks and 5 pass break-ups.

Kwiatkowski largely fielded a veteran crew using six seniors and four juniors in the opening lineup throughout much of the Longhorns' 8-4 season, led by middle linebacker Jaylan Ford, a junior playmaker with 109 tackles, 4 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles, including 2 recoveries — all team bests.

The Huskies have surpassed 50 points in three games this season, including their two most recent outings against Colorado (54-7) and Washington State (51-33). They failed to reach at least 32 points on just two occasions, but won both of those contests against California (28-21) and Oregon State (24-21).

No doubt Sarkisian and Kwiatkowski are working overtime leading up to this bowl game trying to figure out a way to become the first team to shut down the Husky offense in any meaningful manner this season.

"Got to be prepared to make sure you play four quarters and score collectively against them," the former UW coach said. "Because they can do it at a high, high level."

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