Steve Sarkisian Glad Texas Finally Faced Some Adversity

The Texas Longhorns shot themselves in the foot one too many times in the SEC-opening win over Mississippi State.

Sep 28, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian leaves the field after the 35-13 victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron E. Martinez/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images / Aaron E. Martinez/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Though Texas dominated Mississippi State, winning its debut SEC game 35-13, the game wasn't the cleanest.

But a far-from-perfect game is something Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is okay with, especially considering the timing of it.

"I'm actually kind of glad that we had some adversity, today you know because the first four games were kind of smooth sailing, and we needed some rough waters and to see how we would respond, because there's going to be rough waters ahead," Sarkisian said. "And I thought our guys responded really well today, and they showed poise and composure. Nobody lost their cool. They stayed engaged, and they found a way to fight back and pull away in a tough game, and that's what the SEC is all about."

While missed tackles, dropped passes and fumbles aided the Bulldogs on offense and defense, it can be argued that the mistakes are what caused the Longhorns to drop to No. 2 in the AP Poll despite securing a 22-point win.

"Sometimes these games happen and I think we're fortunate enough where were good enough where we can overcome those things and I think we're talented enough to overcome it," Sarkisian said about his team's mistakes after the win. "We've got the mindset and the poise and composure to overcome (the mistakes). A lot of teams can't overcome some of the stuff that we overcame today."

The mistakes made by Texas aided both sides of Mississippi State's game, as the defense gave up a few big plays due to missed tackles. On offense, Texas fumbled twice and took points off the board, giving Mississippi State the ball.

"(I give) a lot of credit to our defense to put out the fires when some of those miscues occurred on the offensive side of the ball," Sarkisian said.

The biggest plays Texas gave up went for 46 yards in the air and 17 on the ground, but when the Longhorns play more offensively-savvy opponents, they know that they'll need to eliminate the big plays.

Another area Texas struggled in was getting the Bulldogs off the field. In the first half, they had over 21 minutes of possession. Though they were only able to score two field goals in the first half, Texas needed to get them off the field.

In the second half, the Texas defense stepped. Senior defensive lineman Vernon Broughton forced and recovered a fumble that highlighted one of six times Texas sacked Michael Van Buren.

"I'm sitting here, we gave up 13 points in an SEC game wishing it would have been less," Sarkisian said. "But hey, we played good defensive football and we made them earn it."

Even with the mistakes, the Texas defense has been stellar all year. It has given up just three touchdowns this year and is allowing just seven points per game.

Texas will have a bye week before going into an intense stretch of SEC play as it will face No. 19 Oklahoma, No. 5 Georgia and Vanderbilt, three games that will test the Longhorns in every way. The Longhorns now have two weeks to eliminate all of the mistakes that it made against Mississippi State.