Steve Sarkisian vows to use Nick Saban's comments as leverage to fire up Longhorns: "Really don’t matter"

Steve Sarkisian, one of the most talked-about coaches in the country, responded to Nick Saban's comments about Texas 'running the conference' they were in. Following a bit of a rocky start to his tenure at Texas, Sarksian has turned things around with an impressive 12-2 run in the 2023 college football season.

The Longhorns were one of the only teams to beat Nick Saban's Alabama, handing its first double-digit loss at home. Sarkisian also secured the number two spot in the 2024 SEC football preseason media poll, behind Kirby Smart's Georgia, who received a staggering 165 votes to be the champions.

On Sunday, at the THSCA Coaching School and Convention, talking about receiving a high ranking in their first season in the conference, Steve Sarkisian said:

“I always do this exercise with the team, and I’ll do it again, I’ll show the preseason poll and the preseason All-SEC team, I’ll probably show four or five headlines of articles of how great we’re supposed to be."

During the 2024 SEC Media Days, former Alabama head coach Nick Saban had said about Texas' future in the SEC:

"'Ya know what kinda tickles me is all these people asking these questions about how Texas always ran the conference they were in. .... they're not gonna run the SEC."

Sarkisian responded to fire up his team for the upcoming season:

"Then, I’ll show another seven or eight articles, or headlines, or quotes from Coach Saban that we’re not going to run the SEC as a reminder that people’s opinions of us before we play a game really don’t matter.”

Talking about the his team and the effect of these rankings on his mindset, Sarksiaan said:

“Do I think we have a pretty good team? Sure, I do, and I didn’t shy away from that at media days, but at the end of the day, it’s not what people think, it’s not about what we say we’re going to do. it’s about our actions and the way we perform"

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Steve Sarkisian on Arch Manning's position at Texas

Steve Sarkisian has developed one of the deepest quarterback rooms in the country. Talent powerhouses like Trey Owens, Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers and Texas find themselves in a good spot heading into the upcoming college football season.

However, owing to Arch Manning's well-known last name, there's a lot of outside noise when it comes to the quarterback competition at Texas. Many fans want to see Manning take the stage, especially after his impressive performances in the 2024 spring game.

In a conversation with Josh Pate, Steve Sarkisian opened up about the chatter around Arch Manning's position at Texas while addressing the transfer portal rumours:

"Good for Arch he's sticking it out with Texas in year two. And I'm like, 'Hey, that's part of the process like we're developing him to play, be a great football player, and a great leader and he's going to be worked like that,' but that's where we're at."

Fans will be interested to see Texas' performance in their first year in the Southern Eastern conference in the 2024 college football season.