What Steve Sarkisian said about Arkansas following Texas’ loss to Razorbacks
By SDS Staff
Published:
The Arkansas Razorbacks thoroughly whipped the Texas Longhorns Saturday night 40-21. It wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated.
The Hogs racked up an impressive 471 total yards, including 333 of them on the ground. The running game averaged over 7 yards per rush.
Following the game, Steve Sarkisian spoke to the media about the loss to the Razorbacks.
Opening Statement
“The story of the game…we just couldn’t get anything going offensively. The execution wasn’t quite there on third down. In the first half, our defense was giving us a chance. They were getting stops in the red zone. The two drives in the third quarter kind of sealed the game. We have to get back to the drawing board. This is not a performance I was anticipating. I believe it doesn’t define us.”
On Texas’ defense inability to stop the Arkansas running game
“Over time, they kind of wore us out so our defense was out on the field…it kind of wore out. Forty-seven rush attempts. We never put any pressure on them to throw the ball. I think part of that we just didn’t get it done offensively to take any pressure off the defense.”
On defensive issues with missed tackles
“I thought we were tackling good early on. I thought fatigue set in. I don’t think it was a lack of fight or effort. We knew what this game was going to be…we knew it was going to be a physical game and they started to lean on us. We’re going to have to be better moving forward that’s for sure.”
How did Arkansas slow Texas down?
“Unfortunately, I don’t know how much of it is what they did versus what we did. Sam’s done a nice job with their team, but the majority is…we didn’t play great. We didn’t execute great in the pass game. We have some mishaps that didn’t happen last week.”
How Arkansas swung momentum in the third quarter
“They popped a couple of runs right there. Felt like we were going to come right back. The next two series were the key…when we had the turnover on downs and the fumble. Momentum started to get on our favor but they got it right back.”
On Arkansas’ struggles overall
“You just try to run some things that you think the guys believe in and are good at. We were just a little jittery for whatever reason. I don’t think it was about the looks that we were prepared for. We just didn’t play to our standards. We calmed the nerves a little bit unfortunately it was too late.”
Where did Texas lose the game?
“It was a combination of everything. We didn’t play very good as a football team…especially as an offensive football team. We end up…we missed a couple of plays that I think could’ve helped us. We had the missed field goal…there were things in the game…we didn’t create the plays for momentum. Everybody takes a part in this thing that we have to get back to work and the way we played tonight was not good enough to win.”
What are the positives from the game?
“In the first half, I was really proud of our defense to get stops when the offense wasn’t playing great. That was a positive. On the flip side, I thought late in the game our guys battled…we never waved the white flag. Our guys competed.”
You can watch Steve Sarkisian’s post game press conference below:
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
