What the players said after No. 7 Texas' 35-6 win over BYU
Steve Sarkisian got the best of his alma mater in No. 7 Texas’ 35-6 win over BYU on Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Quarterback Maalik Murphy made his first start and UT used all three phases of the game to take down the Cougars in their first Big 12 battle.
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Here’s what the players said after the Longhorns moved into a tie atop the Big 12 Conference after the victory.
Maalik Murphy, QB
On throwing it a lot in the early part of the game:
“It gave me a lot of faith in Coach (Sarkisian). He believed in me. If he’s able to script that many openers as passes for me in my first start, that tells me something. He’s not letting off the gas. He believes in me. That was huge.”
On his teammates’ support in Murphy’s first career start:
“I would say I was ready 100%. I knew they were behind me. I was glad they accepted me into this role to be able to help them. Honestly, they helped me. I was able to help at the end of the game. I just helped the team.”
Jaylan Ford, LB
On Texas aspiring for defensive dominance:
“I think we just take so much pride in, you know, wanting to be dominant. I think there’s, like Sark said, we kind of said the same thing leading up to this week. We really felt like we hadn’t had a dominant performance that we were really proud of yet. So the goal was to go out there and try to achieve that. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned since I’ve been a football player is there’s always room to improve…
So, no matter how dominant you feel, or how good you might play, there’s always things you know I can improve and so I really don’t think there were things that we could have done better out there. But I’m happy to be didn’t get any touchdowns thinking to paint and we have them to to prove us.”
Michael Taaffe, S
On his post-win thoughts:
“It all starts with preparation. We understood that last week was not up to our standard. And you know, we just drilled into it during the week like, ‘Hey, we’re going be up in this game and we can’t let off like last week, we got to keep drawing, keep drilling, and whoever’s in the game, it doesn’t matter.’ The standard doesn’t lower for the twos, or the guys that go in for the people that need a breather. So I think everybody was on the same page about not letting the foot off the gas and just keep going. The communication was on point from the front line to linebackers and safeties and corners so I’m really proud of my team.”
Jahdae Barron, DB
On how it feels for Texas to be 7-1:
“It’s a blessing. It’s good to bounce back. We started off fast and then come slow in the last game (Houston), but we still liked to attack the whole entire time this time, so it feels good.”
On quarterback Maalik Murphy’s first career start:
“He was confident. I know he had two turnovers early, but I mean it’s just football. Adversity is going to strike. He bounced back and he got a little bit too excited at the start during touchdowns and dancing, and I think they try to give him some flack for that. But it’s fun and he did amazing. I’m proud of him to start. Talking about how Quinn (Ewers) came in, he could’ve transferred and gone elsewhere but he stuck with this team and wanted to be with this team”
On getting fellow defensive back Ryan Watts back:
“He helps the whole secondary, brings length and speed to us. I just seen it. He had a few good plays today for us that we needed. And he looked great out there.”
