Steve Sarkisian Confident In 'Versatility' of Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns have a new mentality while preparing to take on BYU on Saturday.

Following the Texas Longhorns' win over the Houston Cougars, head coach Steve Sarkisian said that he is proud of his teams' performance, even though they nearly lost after blowing a 21-0 lead. 

The Cougars caught up to the Horns, forcing a 31-24 final score. 

"You know the first thing when I go back and watch the tape of the game was something I've been kind of leaning on since camp that is showing up," Sarkisian said. "We've got a really versatile football team and the idea of it that we can win games a lot of different ways and the fact that we are not one dimensional...our versatility really shined through."

Steve Sarkisian and Savion Red / © Troy Taormina, USA TODAY

For the rest of the season, Sarkisian wants his roster to treat each game with equal importance and to drown out any outside opinions that may affect their field play. 

After all, despite the obstacles in front of them, including the loss of their starting quarterback Quinn Ewers, the only way they can reach their team goals is by continuing to pile up the wins. 

"Every game is a Big 12 Championship game," Sarkisian said. "Our ability to stay focused on us and what we need to do, to play good football, to keep stacking wins is of the utmost importance. Opinions really don't matter. We control what we can control."

The Longhorns are set to play the 5-2 BYU Cougars this upcoming Saturday, which is familiar territory for Sarkisian. During the 1995-96 seasons, Sarkisian was the starting quarterback for BYU. 

While speaking in his most recent press conference, he highly praised the Cougars' team and work ethic. 

"These guys got really good coaches, got really good schemes," Sarkisian said. "They've got a veteran football team and they play extremely hard. They're tough nose, their hard nose, they play the game with a real mentality, real effort-first team."