Steve Sarkisian addresses challenges of not being hung up on Alabama win

Texas picked up what could be the biggest win of the season this past weekend with their 34-24 victory at Alabama. However, the reaction that Steve Sarkisian’s team has had and will have to that win is going to be a challenge for him and his staff to balance.

Sarkisian broke down that thought process during his press conference on Monday. He started on the positive side by saying that he loves the confidence that Texas brought home from Tuscaloosa. That’s why he doesn’t want to be too eager to take it away from them.

“I look at it both ways. I think, one, I agree that they are confident,” said Sarkisian. “One of the mistakes I can make is to try to beat them down and then knock the confidence out of them. I’ve spent two and a half years trying to instill confidence into them. So I want to be mindful of that.”

After that, though, is where the negative side comes into play. Sarkisian went on to say that he doesn’t want the Longhorns to get too confident to the point where they don’t try to continue to improve or work to handle their game against Wyoming this week in the same manner.

“But, two? I have to point out areas for us to improve and where we can get better as a team,” said Sarkisian. “Ultimately, for me, being transparent with them all of the time? Good, bad, ugly, whatever that is? I’ve earned their trust. I would never guide them in a direction that wouldn’t be in their best interest to perform at the highest level.”

“Even today when we went in? Here’s the plan, here’s the messaging, here’s what we’re trying to do this week? I felt like they accepted that message and they accepted it as a challenge,” Sarkisian said. “Now they need to go put forth the work to prepare to go do that.”

Sarkisian wants to play his approach to this matter the right way. He wants Texas to take pride in what they accomplished in one of the program’s biggest wins in recent memory. Even so, he also doesn’t want them to forget what led them to excellence inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“It’s a little bit of a slippery slope. Because, again, when you’re overly confident? Sometimes that’s when you can skip the details,” said Sarkisian. “Well, excellence lies in the details. So we have to make sure that we continue to press upon that way and whatever those details are in any phase of the game.”

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