'Pissed Off' Texas Longhorns Ready to Get 'Best Shot' From Houston Cougars

The Texas Longhorns are prepared to get the Houston Cougars' best shot on Saturday.

AUSTIN -- Houston Cougars head coach Dana Holgorsen was told by fans and donors that he needed to do one thing heading into the 2023 season - beat the Texas Longhorns.

"Just beat Texas," Holgerson said he was told by Houston donors. "Don’t care if you win any of them but you’ve got to win that one. You can go 1-11 and it’s ok if you beat Texas.”

Holgorsen was the second coach to be told as much by boosters as well, with Baylor Bears coach Dave Aranda echoing a similar sentiment just a few weeks ago.

As such, it is unsurprising for Steve Sarkisian to hear that the Cougars are pulling out all the stops vs. the Longhorns on Saturday at TDECU Stadium, and have secured their first sellout at home in recent memory. 

The Longhorns' defense celebrates vs. the Baylor Bears / © Ricardo B. Brazziell, Austin American-Statesman

"We are The University of Texas, right? Everywhere we go, we are going to get everybody’s best shot," Sarkisian said on Thursday. "Everybody is going to sell out their game. Everybody wants to do a blackout. Everybody is going to do something for that ball game, whatever that is. This is the second Big 12 coach that has said the exact same thing, that his boosters have said ‘If you only win one game, beat Texas.’"

So how will the Longhorns prepare for what should be an extremely tough environment on Saturday?

Luckily, they have been there before, facing tough road environments against Alabama and Baylor earlier this season - both of which ended up being resounding wins. 

And Sarkisian has a particular mindset he likes to deploy for road trips. 

"I'm big on Sun Tzu, Art of War," Sarkisian said. "You need to know what you're walking into and you need to understand that the battle is won before it's fought."

On top of that, coming off of a loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, the Longhorns will have ample motivation to cleanse their pallet against the 3-3 Cougars.

"I feel like I have a team right now that's a little pissed off," Sarkisian said. "They're angry and they want to get back on the field. They want to play. These guys feel like we're a good football team and we've got something to prove."