Rivalry week has arrived, ushering in the biggest regular-season matchups for fans across the country. On Friday, Texas A&M heads to Austin to square off against the Texas Longhorns.
High stakes always elevate the drama, and this clash is no exception. A Texas victory would knock the Aggies out of the SEC title race, while an Aggies win would erase any chance for the Longhorns to reach the CFP. The trash talk began the moment Texas defeated Arkansas on Saturday evening, and social media has since been flooded with comparisons of common opponents and statistical breakdowns.
Head coach Mike Elko and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian enter Week 14 at very different points in their careers. Elko just secured a major contract extension, while Sarkisian faces persistent rumors about his future. He has denied them, but Aggie fans know all too well that a coach’s word only goes so far until proven. Still, none of that speculation will matter once the ball is kicked off on Friday, November 28 — for 60 minutes, everything comes down to the field.
Here is everything Sarkisian said on Monday’s weekly press conference ahead of this weekend’s matchup at DKR in Austin:
Coach Sark on his overall thoughts about facing the Aggies
“They’re really good in all three phases. Defensively, the numbers are pretty startling when you look at 3rd down defense, sacks, TFLs. You see the explosive play ability that they have on offense with Marcel Reed, the variety of runners, then the receiving corps. Concepcion and Craver lead the way.”
Coach Sark on the importance and history of this matchup
“I like that in this game we get an opportunity to stand alone whether it’s Thanksgiving or the Friday after Thanksgiving. I just think this game deserves the spotlight to stand alone. The fact that we’re playing on Friday night with all the eyes of college football on it, and really the football world on this game, I think this game deserves that.”
Coach Sark on what is the key to victory
“We need to be sound in our schemes and we’re going to need to win one-on-one battles. When you get into games like this, that’s what it requires.”
Coach Sark on Arch Manning development of the course of the season
“I think it has for him. I think he’s done a really good job of his decision making. He had a couple scrambles the other day where I think Arch early in the year puts his head down and starts barreling forward and maybe gets two or three more yards. I thought he made some really good decisions on first down plays where he ran out of bounds and it was a one yard gain but he didn’t take that hit.”
Coach Sark on how playing other athletic quarterbacks helped them prepare for Reed
“You could probably argue Marcel Reed is the most dynamic of all those guys. What (facing those quarterbacks) prepares you for is where did we break down when they hurt us? How do we rectify that and fix that so we can go back to some of that old tape, whether it’s from practice or from the game, to see where our issues occurred against those guys and then we can work on those things in practice.”
Coach Sark on their CFP hopes
“I’ll talk about that after the game. If we’re fortunate enough to win the game, I’ll talk about that after the game because I think that would be a better platform.”
Coach Sark on if he needed to do anything to motivate his team for this week
“Not very much. They’ll be ready.”
Coach Sark on his message after the Arkansas win
“I think I know them pretty well. It’s a very young team where we’ve really had some growing pains. What I appreciate about them, and I told them this yesterday when we got together to review the Arkansas game, is that I appreciate them trusting the messaging. These guys want to be really good. They’re striving to be really good. They trust me. You can feel it in their approach to things, so what I know is that they’re willing and they’re going to try to do what we ask them to do.”
Coach Sark on the Aggie defensive line
“They’re quick. They’re fast. They’re very aggressive. They’ve got a really good scheme. Ultimately, we’ve got to use all the tools to our offense. We’ve got to do a variety of different things to negate that but I think there’s a fine line in protecting and not attacking. On the same notion, we’re at our best when we attack people, too. Does that maybe stress us a little bit? But I need to apply a little pressure, a little stress the other way too. If we don’t, then you become passive. You become too ‘gotta protect, gotta protect.’ Then at that point, what’s the point, right? So there’s a fine line. It’s trusting your players, it’s them trusting the plan, it’s remaining aggressive yet in the same token making sure that we’re using all of our offense and using all of the tools that we have to try to negate those things.”
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on X: @whosnextsports1.
This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Texas Longhorn football’s HC Steve Sarkisian previews Texas A&M
Reporting by Jarrett Johnson, Aggies Wire / Aggies Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
