Steve Sarkisian discusses how to build back confidence in locker room

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is still answering plenty of questions surrounding his team’s play of late. The Longhorns have lost three straight games in which they have a lead at the half and possessed a double-digit lead in the third quarter. Many concerned about the program have speculated whether it’s a confidence issue for the team. And in Monday’s press conference those concerns were made known again.

“Yeah, I mean I think at the end of the day if we keep talking about a brused psyche we’re going to get a bruised psyche right. I mean there’s a psyche behind it all. So you know we gotta make sure players understand what they’re capable of doing and why they’re capable of doing it.

“We’ve got enough veteran players and know what it’s like to win and win big games and being great games and do all that. So it’s a great challenge like the entire season been a heck of a challenge. And I think our guys have, outside of one game in Arkansas, our guys have risen to the challenge week in and week out. Now it’s the ability to sustain that in the midst of the fire. That’s really where we’re at with our guys,” said Sarkisian.

Is it the Longhorns Psyche?

The Longhorns let an 11-point lead in the third quarter slip away against the Baylor Bears. In the postgame press conference, Sarkisian was asked about his team’s confidence, more specifically, if it is a psyche issue. 

“It’s psyche right. It’s the mind, the spirit of a competitor. We got great competitors in our locker room. We want to make sure that their spirit really comes out, In everything that they do. Whether we have some people that are, maybe tensing up a little bit. It’s our job to get all of their spirit out of them.”

During this three-game losing streak, the Longhorns have fallen to the Big 12’s top three teams. After starting the Red River shootout against bitter rival Oklahoma on fire, the Longhorns quickly cooled off scoring just 10 points in the second half compared to 38 in the first. They lost that game in a close one 55-48. The following week against the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Texas took a 17-13 lead into the half. And similar to the Oklahoma loss and this week’s loss, the Longhorns offense sputtered in the second half. They were only able to score just one touchdown to begin the second half and then proceeded to be shut out the rest of the game. The Cowboys would go on to win the game 32-24.