Everything Steve Sarkisian said on his Thursday Zoom ahead of the Red River Shootout

Let’s jump right into it.

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Steve Sarkisian: “Getting closer to the game obviously. What a special week this is. People always ask you is it business as usual when you come to games like this? I say no it’s not. You come to games like this, especially this one in particular in the Red River Rivalry, and all that it encompasses from a rivalry standpoint, it’s not business as usual. There’s so much that goes into this game for both schools. Obviously for us, coming off of last week in SEC play stubbing our toe at Florida and starting conference play at 0-1, this is a very significant game as it pertains to the SEC race. This is not a business as usual week, and I think we could feel that at practice, the level of intensity, the sense of urgency of which everyone’s been operating. Players, coaches, everybody involved. You can feel that. I think that’s a good thing, I think that’s what’s needed this week against a really quality opponent.”

Steve Sarkisian on Neto Umeozulu: “I think for every player, we’re always looking for consistency regardless of the position and the consistency in knowing what to do. Then, using the proper fundamentals and techniques to do it, then having the ability to adjust on the move when the picture changes. That’s Neto, that’s every player on our team. That’s one of the base requirements of playing for us on offense, defense, special teams.”

Steve Sarkisian on if his players are playing with more anger because of frustration with their level of play: “I definitely sense a level of frustration in the fact that we just haven’t put it all together yet and everybody wants to put it all together. Everybody’s working really hard. It’s not about our habits and working hard. I think it’s playing with a sense of confidence too that we can. The players, like I said, this week in practice hasn’t been business as usual. You can feel that sense of urgency. You can feel that level of intensity in practice. I think regardless of how we are playing, that’s needed when you go into this game. I think in particular for us of where we’re at in this stage of the season, it’s needed as well. I credit the coaches for shaping the mindset of the team at their particular position groups. All encompassing, there’s a common thread of let’s go play our brand and our style of football. Let’s put our best foot forward, and see if it’s good enough.

Steve Sarkisian on Jerrick Gibson and why he didn’t play at Florida: “Definitely was a flow of the game (decision). The game clearly last week did not go the way we intended. Jerrick is our short yardage back and we didn’t have any short yardage opportunities first of all. He would have been the first guy in if that would have been called upon. I think at the end of the day, we evaluate the guys week in and week out of where they’re at. Different style of runs are better for certain players. In last week’s ball game, we really felt the strength of Florida was their interior defensive linemen. Granted, we probably didn’t give enough credit to all of their defensive front. They were really good, and we didn’t play great. Then when it turns into a pass happy game and you’re throwing the ball, sometimes you’ve got to have your receiving type backs and your pass protecting backs out there to make those plays. Hopefully it’s a good sign if Jerrick’s in there more this week. That’s a good sign for us. Hopefully, get some more opportunities.”

Steve Sarkisian on if he saw a different level of energy from the O-line this week: “I think they practiced really well. I think we’ve got a good plan. I think they understand that plan. I think they’re playing fast and they’re playing confident. They’re playing physical. A lot of the O-line, I judge when we get into our good on good team run periods, and that’s both sides of the ball because that’s when it’s really full speed and we’re rolling. Are we blocking people? Are we getting off blocks? Are we double teaming guys? Are we getting off double teams? Like I said a week ago, I felt like it was an issue on both sides of the ball coming out of that game. We obviously weren’t great up front on offense, but we got moved around way too much for my liking and for what we’re accustomed to around here on the defensive side of the ball. Definitely a point of emphasis. All signs point to we’re in a much better space this week than we were last week. Again, we have to go out and perform and we have to go do that on Saturday.”

Steve Sarkisian on Ben Arbuckle‘s scheme, and if he studies other schemes throughout the course of the year: “I think what makes them difficult is Coach Arbuckle, the system they run is really the Air Raid. Let’s go back to Mike Leach and think about him throwing the ball 60-65 times a game, spreading the field. The pass game comes from the Air Raid. I think what Coach Arbuckle has done a great job of, very similar to maybe Coach Lebby at Mississippi State, is they tax you with the quarterback run game. The quarterback run game has become a bigger part of the Air Raid offense for them. As well as he’s got all of the other situational plays, whether it’s trick plays, 3rd and 1, 3rd and 2 type things where they situationally are just better than the Air Raid was 15-20 years ago. Coach Leach, to his credit, was true to who he was. 3rd and 1, he’s going to be in a spread set and he might be throwing go balls, four verts down the field. That’s who Coach Leach was. I think where Coach Arbuckle has evolved this offense to is they have all that but they’ve got short yardage offense. They’ve got quarterback runs. There’s a lot of offense that you have to prepare for. We are always studying people. We are always stealing things from other people. I’m not going to sit here and pretend to invent every play we run. A lot of what we get is from other college teams, or NFL teams, sometimes high school teams where you’re watching a high school tape and can find things. It’s not always that exact play, but it can definitely spurn a thought of something that can fit to what we do. There’s a lot of that that goes on throughout the week as we prepare, from one opponent to the next.”

Steve Sarkisian on if his team has had a “come to Jesus” meeting: “I think more importantly, the come to Jesus meeting happened on Monday morning at our good, bad, and ugly. I don’t think we needed to have another one, that might have been a little redundant. When you point out the penalties in the game, one on defense was we had another hands to the face penalty. This time, it happened to be from Michael Taaffe on defense. Unintended, sometimes that can happen. Where I think we need to improve is some of the self-inflicted wounds on the offensive side of the ball, whether they’re the pre-snap penalties, whether it’s knowing when to let go of somebody that you’re blocking especially when you’re on the edge because that’s when officials can see them best. If you think about some of the holding penalties we’ve gotten this year, a lot of them have been on the edge. Both of them last week were on the edge, one by a tackle and one by a tight end. It’s playing the game and understanding where the ball is going and when it’s time to let go of somebody so that you don’t get a hold. Generally that’s where holdings occur. We need to be better in that aspect of the game. The come to Jesus really occurred Monday. I didn’t think I needed to have another one.”

Steve Sarkisian on John Mateer: “I think definitely what he brings to the psyche of the team, first of all. A quarterback has got a ton of responsibilities. He’s got to throw it. He’s got to run it. He’s got to change protections. He’s got to snap the ball before the play clock. He’s got to do a lot of things. One of the biggest responsibilities for the quarterback is to instill belief in the team, in the organization, in the fan base, so on and so forth. I think John Mateer has done that for OU. He’s instilled a lot of belief in that organization when he takes the field that they’re a better team than maybe they were before with his presence alone. I think that’s something he provides them on top of the skill set and his ability to run the ball, his competitive spirit, his ability to throw the ball out of the pocket, his comfort level with Coach Arbuckle from their time at Washington State. There’s added things to that. But, I think the one thing he does is instill belief for their team.”

Steve Sarkisian on if he’s considered moving Cole Hutson to guard: “We’ve considered it.”

Steve Sarkisian on where his confidence comes from in his offense in playing in a difficult environment: “There’s two sides to this. In both games at Ohio State and at Florida, we had opportunities. The Ohio State game, we drive the ball down to the one yard line. I call a terrible call. We don’t score on the quarterback sneak. We drive down again. We have to go for it on fourth down and we don’t hit it. We drive down again and we score. We get the ball again and we’re driving again at the end of the game. The competitive spirit on offense, and the same thing happened last week. Even though we had some missed opportunities at Florida, our guys fought their way, stayed engaged in the game, and had an opportunity to get back in the game. We can help ourself on two different fronts. Play better earlier in the game and execute a little more soundly earlier in the game. Be more efficient on first and second down. Too many times, we’re forced into 3rd and 9, 3rd and 10, 3rd and 11, 3rd and 12. That’s not a formula for success. We’ve got to be more efficient on first and second down. We’ve got to minimize some of the self inflicted wounds. Maybe it is going to be a 3rd and 4? Now it becomes a 3rd and 9 because we jump offsides. Some of those things we can control, ultimately I fall back to I know if some adversity does strike that our offense is going to continue to fight, fight back, and remain really competitive because they’ve showed me that in those twoball games that we’ve already played on the road.”

Steve Sarkisian on Nate Kibble: “Nate’s a physical player. He’s growing. He’s developing. His progress is one where we’re continuing to try to push him. He’s another guy that’s fighting for consistency. It’s day in and day out and it’s play in and play out consistency that we’re striving for.”

Steve Sarkisian on Pete Kwiatkowski and how he’s evolved in defending the Air Raid: “The one thing the Air Raid does a great job of is if you sit in something that has answers, the play-caller generally has options to manipulate the call. The receivers have opportunities to change routes. You’ve got to make them be patient. I think that’s one of the challenges that the Air Raid — you say let’s go get them, then boom they throw it over your head or they throw a wheel route to the running back when you’re not looking because you get overly aggressive. I think you’ve got to force them to be patient. You’ve got to try to find a way to affect the quarterback. If the quarterback is just standing back there patting the ball, it can be a long day against the Air Raid. This new age Air Raid, now there’s quarterback-driven run. You’ve got to make sure you deploy the right amount of people to protect the box. I think the last piece to defend in the Air Raid is you’ve got to do a great job on the perimeter. With all the perimeter screens and the advantage throws, your corners, your safeties, and your Stars have to do a great job of when they throw those throws, you’ve got to tackle really well. You’ve got to be physical on the perimeter. You’ve got to get people on the ground. You’re not giving up free yardage on some of those perimeter plays.”