DALLAS — Every morning when Steve Sarkisian arrives at his office and looks out the window at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, he says he feels humbled to have “the best job in the world.”
Texas’ head coach feels just as humbled when he coaches his team in the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl.
“It’s the best environment, in my opinion, in college football,” Sarkisian said at his news conference Monday.
On Saturday, No. 1 Texas will face the Sooners in the 122nd meeting of a rivalry Sarkisian called the best in college football.
“Pretty amazing when you think about it. In that light, you feel humbled to be part of this game,” Sarkisian said.
Sarkisian, who will coach in his sixth Red River Rivalry, knows firsthand what it’s like to enter the packed Cotton Bowl for the first time, with fans of the two universities split evenly throughout the stadium.
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That’s why he has taken time to explain to the 48 players in their first season with the Longhorns what this game is all about.
“This morning, I put a picture of the Cotton Bowl up so they can understand where the tunnel is and which end of the field we actually warm up on, and start wrapping their brains around it,” Sarkisian said. “At the end of the day, it’s football, and the game means a ton to us.”
Sarkisian knows the game will be difficult. Oklahoma has a strong defense, but turnovers have contributed to the Sooners’ 2-2 record.
The Sooners are allowing just 16 points and 238 yards per game, the fifth-fewest yards per game in the nation. They have been especially dominant against the pass, leading the SEC by allowing only 122.5 passing yards per game.
Texas brings one of the SEC’s most-balanced offenses to the Cotton Bowl.
Through four games, the Longhorns are averaging 33.2 points per game, ranking third in the SEC.
Quarterback Arch Manning has thrown for 862 yards, ninth-most in the SEC, and seven touchdowns, tied for 11th.
Texas has generated 1,514 total yards of offense, including 925 passing and 589 rushing.
The Longhorns are undefeated through four games and rank No. 1 in the nation, but Sarkisian said he rarely brings up the ranking with his players.
“Ask the players how many times I’ve brought it up in the last two weeks. I haven’t,” Sarkisian said. “We just don’t talk about it. We focus on what we need to do this week because if we don’t handle what we need to do this week, we won’t be No. 1 next week.”
To win, Sarkisian emphasized, the Longhorns will need to set aside the frills and focus on football basics.
“As much as we want to talk about the emotions of the game, the trick plays or the craziness that can happen in this game, it generally comes back to the things that are important in football: Who can run the ball. Who can convert on third down and extend drives. Who can create turnovers. Who can take care of the ball. You get back to the core fundamentals of what the game of football is all about.”
The Texas coach said the bye week was beneficial because most of his players are feeling healthier. Sarkisian also used the time to study film and identify flaws in the team’s performance over its first four games.
He said he looked for tendencies that lead his players to commit penalties, an area he wants to clean up as much as possible.
“We need to minimize some of the decisions that get made that lead to the penalties,” he said. “There are little things that we have to keep coaching, and I think if we keep coaching and the players are coachable, we can clean some of this stuff up.”
Sarkisian said he doesn’t mind that the Cotton Bowl is split evenly between Longhorns and Sooners fans.
He said sharing the home-field advantage is no disadvantage because the atmosphere makes up for it.
“I love all of that. I love everything that comes with this. I love that it’s at the State Fair, the smell of the corn dogs, the funnel cakes and all that. It’s so special,” Sarkisian said. “It’s so unique, I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
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