What Steve Sarkisian said after Texas’ win over Vanderbilt

Here’s what Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said after Texas’ win over Vanderbilt.

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“It’s always good to win on the road in a conference game, that’s for sure. So first of all, I’d like to thank our fans. I mean, Longhorn nation was amazing. Unbelievable amount of burnt orange in the stands, their support was incredible today. You know, ninth straight road win for us now. On the road, it’s always tough. You’ve always got to try to find a way to win. It’s going to take all 60 minutes. And I think that that showed up today.

I thought some things definitely were clear today. You know, we made it a point to go attack the football defensively. They had only had two turnovers on the year coming into the game. So to go force three turnovers, I thought was huge for us defensively.

We wanted to make sure that we were getting our snaps and running plays, and the fact that the time of possession was about even — think we might have had them by a couple minutes — but we ran 70 plays in the game where teams had come in here and they had only been running 50, 55 plays. It was big.

I love the response Quinn (Ewers) had after the tipped ball interception. I think he completed 17 balls in a row with three touchdowns for over 200 yards. So again, just who he is, was super impressed by him.

We knew third downs were going to be big in this game. I think we were 9 of 15 on third down. They were 3 of 12. They were leading the conference coming in the game on third down.

Some some players to highlight, DeAndre Moore, heck of a game all the way until the end of recovering the onside kick.

Thought Silas Bolden, you know, showed up. His opportunities increased with some guys getting nicked up. Tre Wisner, a great game. Thought Jahdae Barron showed up defensively, some key third down breakups.

And Michael Taaffe, again, he just continues to play at a really high level for us.

A couple things that showed up tonight that were not at our best, we had two tip ball interceptions that were unfortunate that led to 14 points. The two times we gave them a short field, they cashed that in for 14 points.

And then the 10 penalties, and they were all like, big penalties. Very minimal false starts. It was holding penalties and DPIs, and obviously the roughing the passer there. Those penalties led to points and/or took points off the board for us. So something that we have to clean up there.

But I’ll say this in closing before questions: these weeks are not easy. When you get so emotionally invested into a game like we were last week, and then you don’t play your best, it’s tough. It’s tough on coaches, it’s tough on a team to rebound, and I think how many times we’ve seen a team lose a game like that, and then they get beat again the next week, because they’re still they’re still going through it.

And I thought this game tonight was a culture, was a toughness win for us. I’m really proud of our players and their preparation. I was proud of the way they handled the adversity tonight. We knew it was going to take 60 minutes against this style of team. And you know, it’s always good to get up to get a road win.

And like I said before, that was a good football team. They weren’t 25th in the country on accident. So to come in here on the road and get a win, super pumped. I know that we need the bye. Obviously, we’re banged up a little bit, especially at a couple spots where we’re gonna need to get some people healthy for this third phase of our season here coming up with a four game stretch here in a couple weeks.”

On the timeliness of the Texas run game

“I don’t think it’s a secret. You know, people are trying to defend the pass when they’re playing us at certain times, especially on a third and medium type scenario. And so we’re always trying to find the run game. Doesn’t matter. I think most people think run game 1st and 10, but we’re always trying to look for it at different times and different opportunities.

And I thought that those were two critical plays. And, man, we had some really good runs getting called back.

You know, I don’t know how many times we had holding penalties on, really, almost 10 yard plus runs that change your complexion and change your confidence and build and gives everybody confidence.

And so here we got to look at that stuff. I’ve got to look at all the holds. It wasn’t like one guy tonight that was getting them. I think Kelvin (Banks) had one. I think Gunnar (Helm) had one. I know there was a there was a few more in there that we’ve got to find a way not to go backwards

Because it’s hard to overcome 1st and 20, 2nd and 19. That’s difficult over time. And so we were able to get away with that tonight. But we can’t make a living doing that.”

Is there a message to a players about penalties?

“I’ve got to assess them all. I’ve got to look at all of them. I’m sure we’re going to watch the tape as a staff. And I’ll probably not agree with maybe three, four, or five of them. I don’t know. I got to see a couple of them.

Hey, you know, you know that there’s a the deep ball on I think it was 4th and seven that Manny (Muhammad) gets the PI on, if he turns around just a hair quicker it’s probably not defensive pass interference. The roughing the passer with Vernon (Broughton). I don’t think he was intending to hit him in the head, but when the quarterback jumped into the air, and it’s a split second near 335 pounds, it’s hard to kind of move. I don’t think that was intentional on his part. You know that he knows the rules, and he’s not an egregious player like that.