Steve Sarkisian Credits Texas and Georgia's Success to Nick Saban

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian and Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart both spent time at Alabama under Nick Saban and have now seen a consistent level of success within their programs.

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian watches from the sideline during the Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. / Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Within the last two seasons of the Steve Sarkisian era, the Texas Longhorns have already taken down two former national championship teams in Alabama and Michigan. The next one to check off on the list comes this weekend against No. 5 Georgia, which won back-to-back national titles in January of 2022 and 2023.

The stakes surrounding the matchup are at an all-time high now that Texas stands as the No. 1 team in the nation, an accolade that belonged to Georgia for the first three weeks of the season. The Longhorns have remained undefeated through six games, while the Bulldogs suffered a loss against Alabama in week four.

Despite the one stain on its resume so far this season, mistakes like that don't take away from the fact that head coach Kirby Smart has built a dynasty in the college football world. Sarkisian looks to head in the same direction with his squad, but understands that the level of success that Georgia has seen under Smart is something that cannot be replicated in a short span of time, touching on the subject during his weekly SEC teleconference.

"You know what they've been able to do from a consistency standpoint, the number of wins, the championship appearances in the SEC Championship and the national championship, the back to back national titles. You know that that level of consistency doesn't happen by chance," Sarkisian said. "He's recruited really good players. He does a heck of a job coaching. He's had coaches come and go. He's brought in new coaches that have done a really good job. And so they're obviously ahead of the curve of where we are, from where they started, and where we are today."

When Sarkisian was asked about his approach to becoming a national-championship winning team, more specifically if he was mirroring Georgia's formula, he pointed to him Smart and himself beingtaught under the same master, Nick Saban.

"I think a lot of the stuff is Kirby and I's backgrounds with Coach Saban," Sarkisian said. "And if you're at Alabama, whether it's for a short time or a long time, there's a lot of lessons to be learned. I think we both probably took some some pretty good notes of trying to build a build a program and an organization that could be sustainable, and not just one year, have a really good year and then be down for a couple, but be sustainable to where you're competitive and you're competing for championships year in and year out."

Before Saban went to Alabama, Smart served as a defensive backs coach when he was the head coach at LSU in 2004. When Saban made the transition to Alabama, Smart was hired as the assistant coach in 2007 and got promoted to defensive coordinator a year later. He would spend eight years with the Crimson Tide before taking the head coaching position at Georgia in December of 2015.

Smart and Sarkisian would just barely miss each other, as Sarkisian was hired as an analyst for Alabama in September of 2016. He left a year later to have a brief two-season stint with the Atlanta Falcons, but returned to Tuscaloosa as an offensive coordinator in 2019 until he took the head coaching job for Texas in 2021.

Both coaches witnessed how a championship program is made thanks to their experiences at Alabama, and it's clear that the knowledge gained from Saban has transitioned into their own legacies.