What Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, Longhorns players said about loss to Ohio State

COLUMBUS — No. 3 Ohio State beat No. 1 Texas 14-7 in an epic season-opening clash inside Ohio Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Following the game, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and select Longhorns players met with the media to discuss their loss.

Here’s what they had to say:

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian

“I sat at SEC Media Days and said I think the days of a national champion being undefeated are over, especially when you play in games like this and you play in the conference we play in,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve got an opportunity here over the next month to really clean some things up and to get ourselves in a great frame of mind to get ready for SEC play.”

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“I’d say, let’s finish the book before we judge it,” Sarkisian said. “This is one chapter. We’ve got a long season to go play.”

What players said

“We’re competitors at the end of the day,” defensive end Ethan Burke said. “This one hurts as much as others. We never want to lose a game. We want to be perfect. Today, it’s hard to be perfect. Today, we were far from it. We’ve just got to keep fighting and get better. Like I said earlier, there’s so much more time. We’re going to play 15 more games and we’re going to be fighting for the top spot in the country in a few months.”

“Ultimately, not good enough,” quarterback Arch Manning said. “ Obviously you don’t want to start off the season 0-1. They’re a good team. I thought we beat ourselves a lot, and that starts with me. I’ve got to play better for us to win.”

“I saw different cultures and how they took different losses, and I could tell we had a winning football team when I walked in that locker room 30 minutes ago when we lost our first game and the media is making it the biggest season opening football game in history,” safety Michael Taaffe said. “To have that competitive edge that we have? We’ll be alright.”