‘Nobody’s going to give us a shot’ — Texas HC Steve Sarkisian claims underdog status vs. Ohio State in Cotton Bowl
With hint of sarcasm, Sark on Buckeyes WRs: ‘I just hope we’re good enough to guard them’
Texas has been the oddsmakers’ favorite the entire year, even twice against Georgia. But now, the Longhorns are the underdogs in the Cotton Bowl.
From the sound of it, Steve Sarkisian has already embraced that role with gusto. His mantra of “Be enamored with us” will likely be a major theme this week inside the football building.
“Clearly we’re massive underdogs,” Sarkisian said during a Friday Zoom call with reporters. “Nobody’s going to give us a shot.”
Asked how Texas plans to keep receiver Jeremiah Smith and his fellow Buckeyes from taking over, Sarkisian said stone-faced, “I just hope we’re good enough to guard them. These guys are really good players. We’ll find out.”
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It’s impossible for anyone’s tongue to be planted any deeper in one’s cheek.
Early this season, Sarkisian said he was “obsessed” with winning a national title. Now the Longhorns are two wins away from realizing that dream. What’s more, they’re the only Southeastern Conference team still standing in the College Football Playoffs.
Sure, Ohio State (12-2) may be six-point favorites in the Cotton Bowl. But it’d be wrong to dismiss Texas (12-2) out of hand.
“We didn’t come this far just to come this far,” Sarkisian said on a lighter note. “The journey’s not done. The mission’s not complete. It’s still a driving force behind what we do every day, why we wake up so early, why we stay so late, why our players come in on an off day and they’re here watching tape, working out, stretching, striding, getting rehab. It’s all that, you know.
“It's all that continues to push you, because none of this is guaranteed.”
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Horns ran for just 53 yards vs. Sun Devils. Buckeyes’ run defense will be an even bigger challenge in Cotton Bowl.
To be sure, Sarkisian was complimentary of Ohio State’s roster and quarterback Will Howard. Ohio State just rolled No. 1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl 41-21. It doesn’t take a football savant to see the Buckeyes are playing their best at the moment.
“When they have balance, they’re very difficult,” Sarkisian said. “So we’ve got to be good against the run. We’ve got to try to affect him in the pocket, and we need to disrupt timing in the back end. We need to disguise our coverage as well. We need to be sticky in coverage. We need to get hands on footballs. We need to make throwing lanes difficult. We need to get our hands up at the line of scrimmage. So there's a there's a lot of factors to that.”
Injury wise, Sarkisian said the Horns should be “good to go” by Jan. 10. He gave no details on anyone, though.
Sarkisian pointed out that both Texas and Ohio State got the same number of tickets, so even though AT&T Stadium is in Arlington, it’s not guaranteed to be a UT home game.
“You know, we’re going to need our fans. We're going to need our fan support,” Sarkisian said. “I need Longhorn Nation to show out in Arlington. We're going to need everything we got to try to win this game.”
Massive underdogs? Nobody will give Texas a shot? Yes, that’s how Sarkisian sees it, anyway.
“So we're going to need all that we can to try to win this game.”
