'It's On Us Even Bigger Now' Steve Sarkisian Discusses Bullseye on Texas' Back

In his latest interview with analyst Greg McElroy, Sarkisian said the Longhorns must focus on their own game rather than the one they're up against.

Texas Longhorns Head Coach Steve Sarkisian watches the play in the Longhorns' spring Orange and White game at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, April 20, 2024. / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA

The amount of pressure surrounding the Texas Longhorns ahead of their first season as SEC contenders continues to grow as the first kickoff of the year looms on the horizon, with head coach Steve Sarkisian eager to hire new staff and sign recruits like clockwork.

Officially joining the conference on July 1, Sarkisian spoke with Greg McElroy on his show Always College Football about how Texas will be a major target for its opponents, no matter how experienced or not they may be, and how he plans on handling the daunting road ahead.

"I think we have to focus on our standard and what is our standard of play," Sarkisian said. "Not to diminish the opponents, but to keep the focus on us. I've used this term 'be enamored with us' when certain games have come onto our schedule to make sure that we weren't getting distracted by our opponent, maybe in Alabama, right?"

Last season, No. 3 ranked Alabama was the only SEC team the Longhorns faced, with Texas coming away with a 34-24 win in Tuscaloosa. The win came as an indication that the Longhorns were able to step into a challenging environment and visualize their potential rather than water themselves down.

While Sarkisian is aware of having the third-toughest schedule in college football behind Georgia and Ohio State, he said his team has its own self image to uphold instead of worrying about the opponent in front of it.

"[We need to] focus on what we need to do and that's who we need to be week in and week out and understand what our standard is, playing to that standard, preparing to that standard, having the right mental focus, the right mental intensity to that standard and what that looks like," Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian and his team will also have the opportunity to play Michigan from the Big 10 conference in their second game of the season, traveling to Ann Arbor in what should be a similar feeling to facing Alabama in its own territory. Michigan became the 2023 National Champions after defeating Washington, with Texas nearly making the championship but falling to the Huskies in the first round of playoffs.

All 12 teams who will face Texas are no strangers to the high expectations and championship mentality that the Longhorns carry with them and will be looking for any chance to knock Texas off its pathway to glory.

"Nowadays, if we thought the bullseye was on Texas before, it's on us even bigger now," Sarkisian said. "To go into this thing thinking we're not going to get every team's best shot, we're kidding ourselves. It doesn't matter if it's Colorado State, Michigan, UTSA, ULM, Mississippi State, we're going to get all of them."

Texas will begin its regular season on August 31 with four non-conference games before entering its SEC stretch, hoping to set the tone early before its conference debut.