College football coaches often look to other programs for lessons, both good and bad, as they prepare their teams for the challenges ahead.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian took a page out of Notre Dame’s recent misfortune to drive home a point to his players about maintaining focus.
Of course, Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish were upset by 28-point underdogs Northn Illinois in shocking fashion this past Saturday.
On Monday, Sarkisian addressed his Texas team following their impressive 30-12 victory over defending national champion Michigan at The Big House.
The dominating victory catapulted the Longhorns to No. 2 in the national rankings, but Sarkisian was quick to remind his players that they can’t take their success for granted.
Notre Dame’s stunning loss provides a perfect example for Sark to use. After all, the Irish were flying high after their massive Week 1 win on the road over Texas A&M.
Freeman admitted that Notre Dame got too full of themselves and let all of the high praise go to their heads. (Irish fans were hoping that Freeman and the team would have been way past that point by now, but yet here we are.)
“Twofold, I think one is we try to hold ourselves to our standard,” Sarkisian said when asked about the message he conveyed to the Longhorns. “We have a saying around here, ‘The standard is the standard.’ A jersey, a helmet, a stadium doesn’t dictate how we prepare. We dictate how we prepare. I think that’s the first part.
“But the second part is human nature is human nature,” he continued. “So what did I do this morning? I walked them through the Notre Dame scenario of them going into College Station a week ago and winning that game, being anointed a top-five team, and then a week later losing to Northern Illinois.”
Sarkisian took it a step further by showing his players footage from Notre Dame’s shocking defeat.
“I showed that clip of the field goal, and I showed that clip of Northern Illinois storming the field this morning as a good reminder,” he said.
The message was clear: nothing is guaranteed.
“We are entitled to nothing. We’re capable of anything; we’ve got a really good team. But we’re entitled to nothing, and we’re going to earn everything we get. We’re going to have to earn the victory here Saturday night,” Sarkisian emphasized.
Texas now turns its attention to hosting UTSA, who is coming off a blowout loss to rival Texas State. Meanwhile, Freeman’s Fighting Irish will look to rebound on the road against rival Purdue.
While Notre Dame wasn’t looking to do Sark or the Longhorns any favors, their shocking loss provides a priceless lesson to not just Texas but every team in the country.
In the bigger picture, do you think Freeman and the Irish will be able to get back on track and make it to the College Football Playoff as originally expected?
As for Texas, do you think they can hold onto their edge for the remainder of the season and be the last ones standing???