Steve Sarkisian points out 'glaring' concerns from San Jose State game

Steve Sarkisian was satisfied with the Texas win over San Jose State on Saturday, but there were some “glaring” issues from the victory. The Longhorns’ coach cited 12 penalties that need to be cleaned up moving forward.

“The couple things that were glaring, the easy one to look at, because it’s very tangible, is the penalties,” Sarkisian said. “And you have 12 penalties for 115 yards, which means there’s some major fouls in there, and they were in all three phases, you know, on special teams, we roughed the punter and we got a holding on a punt return. On defense, you know, we had a couple offsides. We roughed the passer. 

“Offensively, you know, we have a holding by a wide receiver, we have a holding by an interior offensive lineman. We have a chop block. We have false starts. And so it was kind of across the board, which led myself to this idea that, you know, where was our mental intensity, where was our mental focus Saturday?”

Sure, it was a 38-7 win, Arch Manning played well scoring five touchdowns and the defense shut down the Spartans. But Sarkisian knows penalties could ultimately lose them tight games.

“I know human nature is what it is, and you come off of a really big game on the road for your season opener, and you know, human nature is, let’s take a deep breath and relax. We don’t get to relax,” Sarkisian said. “You know, our mental intensity needs to be as high as it needs to be. We need to play with the right type of discipline throughout the week, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 

“That discipline is what’s going to lead to the proper habits of how we practice, which ultimately will lead to the consistency in our play, which will lead to the growth that all of us need to make. And so all that starts with me. I don’t point the finger at anybody else but myself. We need to improve upon that which we will.” 

Texas and Sarkisian are back in action Saturday at home vs. UTEP at 4:15 p.m. ET. 12 penalties won’t bode well for a second straight game.

“So all in all, it’s good to win,” Sarkisian said. “And you know, I’ve been down in these other games. I got a chance by playing at 11 a.m., I got to get home earlier and watch some other teams kind of slug the ball around on the field too, you know, in games, where everyone thinks you’re just supposed to go out and play perfect. And so part of that is the growth of a team, but we need to improve and everybody needs to improve individually, and I believe we’ll do so and we started to do that today.”