Rice Coach Mike Bloomgren Praises 'Surgical' Steve Sarkisian and Longhorns

Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren had nothing but good things to say about the Longhorns ahead of their Saturday matchup.

The Rice Owls will have their hands full on Saturday afternoon when they take on the No. 11 ranked Texas Longhorns at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

And while the 34.5-point underdogs are not overconfident, or giving the Longhorns any bulletin board material, they are excited about the opportunity that they have in front of them. 

“We have an awesome opportunity this week, heading to play the University of Texas," Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren said. "It’s a great challenge for our football team. We understand how talented they are, we’ve been preparing all offseason for them.”

Bloomgren has been with the Owls as the head coach since 2018 and has faced the Horns twice during that time in 2019 and 2021.

The latter of which came against in Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian's first year in Austin in a 58-0 shutout for the Horns.

And after seeing what Sarkisian had in store for him then, as well as how much the Longhorns have improved over the last two years, Bloomgren was also quick to heap praise onto Sark and company as well.

“I think everybody knows Sark’s background. When you go back to those mid-2000s USC teams when he and Lane (Kiffin) were as innovative as anybody in the country. What Sark did when he went to the Falcons and went to Alabama again, I mean, just an unbelievable offensive mind that’s very surgical.”

That said, Sark wasn't the only Texas coach on Bloomgren's mind either, with the sixth-year head coach also showing his adulation for Longhorns defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski. 

"You’re playing an unbelievably talented Texas team, with a coaching staff led by Coach Steve Sarkisian and really an All-Star cast," Bloomgren said. "He’s got two former head coaches on his staff, a lot of people I’ve had a chance to play numerous times at other institutions like the defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski. He does a fabulous job of making everything difficult.”

The Longhorns and Owls will kick off at 2:30 PM on Saturday, with the game set to be broadcast on FOX.