Longhorns fans hope Bert Auburn gets pumped up by Notre Dame’s thrilling finish in College Football Playoffs
Sarkisian passed on chance to pump up his kicker’s confidence during Thursday press conference
Notre Dame’s stunning finish Thursday night to beat Penn State in the College Football Playoffs highlights one of the biggest issues Texas has going into its matchup against Ohio State.
Do the Longhorns trust Bert Auburn in a high-stakes situation to drill a game-winning field goal?
The Fighting Irish won an incredible national semifinal when Mitch Jeter hit a 41-yard field goal with eight seconds left in the Orange Bowl.
“He is a confident guy, man,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said late Thursday. “There is no moment too big for Mitch Jeter. I had a lot of confidence in him in that moment that he was going to do exactly what he did, and he did a great job at doing that.”
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Texas coach Steve Sarkisian had the chance to express public confidence Auburn during a midday Cotton Bowl press conference. Oddly, Sarkisian not only didn’t. He basically sidestepped a question about Auburn all together, raising doubts about whether Texas would stick with their long-time kicker going into the biggest game of the season.
Asked what it would take to get Auburn going in the right direction, Sarkisian said, “Well, I think that's always the challenge of a coach, right? You think about some of those positions. Football is an ultimate team sport, but there’s some specific positions that are very kind of individualized.
“Obviously, you think about snapper or punter, holder, kicker, quarterback even at times of when do you do that and what does that look like.
“Ultimately, there’s a psychological approach that we've tried to use, and there's obviously the physical approach,” Sarkisian added. “And then we'll monitor that thing through pregame and make a decision to go.”
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College kickers are a confounding bunch. Auburn’s backup is Will Stone, a junior who handles kickoffs. Stone has never attempted a field goal in three seasons.
Sarkisian is likely at his wits’ end trying to crack the code. Auburn is 10-for-11 on field goals of 39 yards or less this season. He’s pretty automatic in that area. But Auburn is now 6-for-14 on kicks longer than 40 yards this season.
Before this season, Auburn was 50-of-61 (.820) on all field goals in 2022 and 2023.
In the Peach Bowl, Auburn had a chance to give the Longhorns the lead with 1:39 remaining. He missed from 48 yards.
The offense got the ball back and moved into position for another kick, this time a true game-winner. Sarkisian was seen putting both arms on Auburn’s shoulders, talking directly to him eye to eye and attempting to pump him up. Auburn missed again from 38 yards with two seconds left. This time, the ball hit the left upright.
“When I saw that happening, I said, ‘I never talked to these guys when they had to make a kick.’ Never,” Nick Saban later said on ESPN while laughing. “I didn’t want them to think it was a different kick than every other kick that they had to make and be so concerned about the outcome of making the kick, that they didn’t just kick with confidence and go through their normal rhythm.”
At this point, the Horns likely will roll with Auburn. The coach knows he just can’t leave it to chance.
Touchdowns are needed to beat Ohio State, not field goals.
