'This is about us': Steve Sarkisian places focus, hopes, expectations on Texas in opener

Admittedly, Steve Sarkisian thought it was a little odd to be watching college football this past weekend since Texas wasn't playing.

"I'm not sure how the week zero works," he remarked Monday.

Well, Texas won't be on college football's sidelines for much longer. Sarkisian and the No 11 Longhorns are just days away from a season-opening home game against Rice on Saturday. Coming off an 8-5 showing in 2022, Texas enters the season 11th in The Associated Press' poll and 12th in the AFCA coaches poll.

Under Sarkisian, Texas is 2-0 in its season openers. The Longhorns beat a ranked Louisiana team 38-18 in 2021 and opened last year with a 52-10 rout of Louisiana-Monroe.

What to look for in Saturday's opener

On Monday, Sarkisian was asked what he wanted to see from his team in a season opener. Aside from a win, of course, he referenced the football that he had watched over the weekend and said he'd be looking out for substitution errors, pre-snap penalties, tackling and mess-ups with the coverage units on special teams.

"Inevitably, I want to see us execute," he said. "All of that is kind of encompassed into that, whether it's pre-snap or post-snap. (I'll be looking at) our ability to execute, communicating really well, being on the same page and then play our style of football."

Over the course of an afternoon-long media availability inside the Carpenter-Winkel Centennial Room at Bellmont Hall on Monday, several players chatted with reporters about their classes.

"(It's been) rough, but I'm getting the hang of it," junior receiver Xavier Worthy joked.

Texas has a good history with Rice

On the field, Texas' first test of the fall will be administered by Rice. The two teams have met 96 times, and the Longhorns hold a 74-21-1 lead in the series. One of those was a 10-6 victory by UT's 1963 championship team, which will be honored at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Texas has scored 512 points over its last 11 games against Rice. Two years ago, UT put up 58 points in a shutout of the Owls.

The Owls are a year removed from a season in which they went 5-8 and reached a bowl game for the first time since 2014. Sarkisian described them as an experienced and tough opponent.

Want to win free tickets? How to win 2 suite tickets for the UT vs. Kansas game

"It's going to be a good pro-style offense. We've got to come with it and get on the film because they can give us a lot of different looks," senior cornerback Ryan Watts said.

"The main thing that stands out (on their defense) is that they have I believe it was 10 out of 11 guys returning that are older guys," sophomore offensive lineman Kelvin Banks said. "That means their D-line is mature, their defense is mature. So there's guys that are going to know what to do who's been in those moments and know how to operate their defense."

Looking at the Longhorns' roster

Sarkisian said Texas will have almost all of its players available. The only injured player noted by Sarkisian on Monday was linebacker Morice Blackwell, who's expected to miss a few weeks with a knee injury.

So that was the injury report; what about the depth chart? Texas did not release one at the beginning of the week. Sarkisian also didn't say whether Maalik Murphy or Arch Manning will be the backup for Quinn Ewers, and no starting running back was named, either. Sarkisian said that both sophomore DJ Campbell and incumbent starter Cole Hutson will see time at right guard.

Sarkisian also was asked to address the comments made last week about this year's Texas-Texas Tech game by Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark. While speaking at a Texas Tech event, Yormark told Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire that "you'd better take care of business like you did (during an overtime win over Texas) right here in Lubbock last year." Yormark stated that he plans to attend the game in Austin on Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving.

"I got a letter from the commissioner about sportsmanship the day before that speech, and so I'm trying to figure out about what are we promoting to our student-athletes and then to go say those types of things," Sarkisian said. "I'm not guessing he's going to have his Thanksgiving dinner with us the night before that game."

Sarkisian then emphasized that he wouldn't turn Yormark's comments into a rallying cry.

"This is about us. We're focused on what we get to do and why we get to do it. We're proud to be part of the University of Texas," he added.

Saturday's game

Rice at No. 11 Texas, 2:30 p.m., Fox, 1300

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Longhorns look ahead to first football game against Rice