Steve Sarkisian says Texas has 'a lot of confidence' entering final two games

The Texas Longhorns are coming off a tough loss at home on Saturday against the top team in the Big 12, the TCU Horned Frogs. Despite the tough loss, head coach Steve Sarkisian says his Longhorns have a lot of confidence heading into next week’s game against Kansas, followed by their matchup against Baylor to end the year.

“Well, I think that’s what good teams do. You start to find your rhythm. You start to find your calling card on either side of the ball,” said Sarkisian. “And they got a lot of confidence to build off of. This is another great challenge, a unique challenge; a different one for them.”

“Inevitably, we’ve kind of got a standard at which we want to play at defensively, from an aggressive nature and effort standpoint of physicality. A population of the ball, and then, obviously, trying to eliminate some of the explosive play. I think we did that, for the most part, the other night. It was unfortunate that we gave up the two big plays. But, I think there’s a lot of things for them to build on and to carry with them on the road that’s going to be needed. I think really good teams play complementary football, and they’re good in all three phases.

The Longhorns’ defense had one of the better performances of the year, limiting the high-powered TCU offense to just 17 points. Unfortunately for Texas, it was the bread and butter of their team and Sarkisian — the offense — that struggled against the Horned frogs. The Longhorns’ offense could only muster three points in the game. Texas’ lone touchdown of the night came when TCU quarterback Max Duggan fumbled a handoff to their running back, and the Longhorns were able to scoop and score on the play.

Sarkisian shares how he keeps motivation during Texas’s struggles

Sarkisian and his Longhorns came up short at home on Saturday to TCU, 17-10. That loss to their Big 12 conference rival eliminated them from contention for the Big 12 title. Although the results of that game and its lingering effects are a bummer; it’s not what Sarkisian is using as a measuring stick for his team’s success this year. For the Longhorns’ head coach, he keeps the motivation flowing by highlighting his squad’s progress from last season at this point to now.

“Well, I think about where we were this time last year, which was a tough spot to be in,” said Sarkisian at Monday’s press conference. “I feel like we’ve made progress. Would I like to have a better record than 6-4 right now? For sure. But the idea of the way that we’ve lost a couple of the games and where we’re at, and in conference standings, I think there’s still a lot of belief in what we’re doing.

“I still think there’s a lot of hope in what this season can be. But again, we can’t think all big picture right now. We’ve got to make sure we’re drilled down and zeroed in on the target, and that’s playing really good on Saturday.”