OTF Premium Steve Sarkisian Press Conference + Texas Player Availability (Sept. 1)

[CJ Vogel]

Sarkisian says he thinks the game can mount on a young quarterback when drives stack up without points. He says Arch doesn't need to press because of the defense he has behind him.

"I think he started to play football in the 2nd half the way that he is capable of playing."

Sarkisian also says he thinks Arch gave himself more credit with his athleticism in the second half more than he did in the first half.

[Jeff Howe]

Sark said Arch is a better athlete "than he probably gave himself credit for," and said the trust Arch has in his legs will help him.

[Jeff Howe]

Sark is really hammering home how important it was for Texas to maximize field position in the Ohio State game. That goes for the offense and defense.

[CJ Vogel]

Big focus on complementary football today in the Monday team meeting.

[Jeff Howe]

"I feel like sometimes when you get hit, you realize, 'Oh man, we're playing," Sark said of how Arch needed to get the first hit out of the way early in the game to settle in. 

[CJ Vogel]

Sark: We will never be a team that majors in running the quarterback, but with the talent at quarterback it is worth expanding more.

[Jeff Howe]

As he mentioned after the game, Sark said he probably should've gotten into the quarterback run game earlier and more often.

[CJ Vogel]

Sarkisian says on a few crossing routes, Arch didnt bring his feet and align his body particularly well.

[Jeff Howe]

The way Texas coaches quarterbacks to read crossing routes and Arch getting off kilter in how he read it led to some of the mechanical issues everybody saw, like throwing the ball with a sidearm delivery. Sark said that that's not Arch's style.

[Jeff Howe]

Part of Arch's growth, Sark said, is learning to trust that the route is developing accordingly, even if the look isn't exactly what it looked like in practice.

[Jeff Howe]

"I was very pleased," Sark said regarding how the running game unfolded.

[Jeff Howe]

Sark said Texas got "too cute" running the football in big games last season. He wanted to get back to running the football between the tackles and being physical. He felt like, for the most part, that happened, but he showed the team on tape where they left some bigger gains on the table if all 11 guys on offense had done their jobs.

[Hashtag]

6 minutes ago, Jeff Howe said:

Sark on Arch: "All in all, I think he started to play football in the second half."

Coincidentally that was when his offensive coordinator decided to pull his head out of his ass once he was backed against a wall. 

[Jeff Howe]

Texas respects every opponent, including San Jose State, but Sark said a lot of the focus this week will be on the team working on itself and getting better.

[Hashtag]

6 minutes ago, Jeff Howe said:

Sark is really hammering home how important it was for Texas to maximize field position in the Ohio State game. That goes for the offense and defense.

Can he hammer home scoring points in the redzone? 

[Jeff Howe]

Sark didn't elaborate, but he said guys who didn't play against Ohio State will be needed on Saturday against San Jose State.

[CJ Vogel]

Sark: "We respect all these opponents that we play. San Jose State is a dangerous team. They're going to throw the ball over 50 times on Saturday."

[CJ Vogel]

Sarkisian says the first 4th down attempt by Ohio State, Jeremiah Smith got behind the Longhorns DB but other than that, the secondary did a great job of keeping Smith bottled up in front of them.

[Texas fan in Georgia]

Not inspired by sarks answers. Not that it matters I get that. But man it’s like he’s the smartest guy in the room . Does he even ask any of these special assistants that he hires for their opinions or advice on anything? And if he does does he even take it ?

[CJ Vogel]

 

[Jeff Howe]

On balancing out being aggressive on defense and not leaving the cornerbacks vulnerable in coverage, Sark said they were mindful of Jeremiah Smith all day. He said they got lucky on the fourth-and-1 when Ohio State failed to convert (Max Klare dropped a pass) and Kobe Black was one-on-one with Smith.

[LonghornFan4Ever]

Just now, CJ Vogel said:

Sark: "We respect all these opponents that we play. San Jose State is a dangerous team. They're going to throw the ball over 50 times on Saturday."

Translation:  there will be plenty of opportunities for the defense to create splash plays.

[CJ Vogel]

Sarkisian calls Ohio State's passing game cautious, yet effective to move the ball enough to beat Texas.

[Hashtag]

5 minutes ago, CJ Vogel said:

Sarkisian says on a few crossing routes, Arch didnt bring his feet and align his body particularly well.

We saw this exact same thing with Quinn on a lot of passes. @Gerry Hamilton what’s your read on the QB mechanics that seem to be in Arch now that Quinn also developed? Should we be questioning Milwee? I saw a regresssion in Ewers over the years and I saw a regression in Arch from his performance mechanics wise last year to this game. 

[Jeff Howe]

Sark said the defense needs to practice more of the second tackler getting to the ball and trying to strip it. Ohio State's game plan when throwing the ball wasn't conducive to playing a lot of balls in the air, so Texas needed to force fumbles to create turnovers.