Steve Sarkisian draws lesson from watching SEC in Week 5: ‘You better strap it up every week’
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Steve Sarkisian took a seat on the couch in Week 5, as the head coach of the No. 1 team in the land had no game on the schedule to try to win.
Instead, last Saturday as he watched college football and particularly the SEC, Sarkisian was just trying to learn a thing or two. Texas will get back on the horse, so to speak, this Saturday afternoon when it faces Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry in Dallas, with a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC.
The Sooners are struggling mightily in 2026 after coming into the year so highly ranked, as they sit at 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the SEC. Meanwhile, Texas is looking down at everyone else in the rankings, at least for now, with a 4-0 record and signature wins already over Ohio State and Tennessee.
But Sarkisian doesn’t have to be told to beware. In addition to Oklahoma being a fierce rival and the danger that could present, it’s an SEC game, and SEC games are dangerous no matter what. Sarkisian brought up Kentucky‘s comeback win in overtime over South Carolina and Mizzou‘s blowout of Florida as the things that stood out to him the most while being that spectator this past Saturday.
The overall lesson he learned while watching? Don’t get caught not playing hard every single week, as Sarkisian stressed during his session with reporters on Monday.
“This conference is amazing, you know, and you just watch the games and you watch the environments. … It just reminds you of what this league is all about,” Steve Sarkisian said. “And you better strap it up every week. You got to be physically tough in this league. You got to be mentally tough in this league. Because you got to get right back to it each Monday. And you got to wipe the slate clean and you got to get back to what you believe in and prepare and practice mentally and physically ready for another war come Saturday.”
This week’s war will be a rivalry that goes back to 1900. It’s a rivalry series that Texas leads, 65-51-5, and Sarkisian hopes his top-ranked Horns can add to that lead come Saturday in Dallas.
While Sarkisian learned a lot just from watching the SEC in Week 5, he’ll be back within the battle in Week 6 with a matchup against longtime rival Oklahoma. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about Texas’s chances to pick up where it left off and take care of the Sooners on Saturday:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
