AUSTIN (KXAN) — While he had some spare time during the Longhorns’ bye week, head coach Steve Sarkisian filled the football void over the weekend with, well, football.
He said he watched a lot of the Southeastern Conference matchups Saturday and noticed a couple of things. One gave him a little reassurance, while the other reminded him about how tough the SEC is.
It’s something Sarkisian is working on, but four games into the season, the Longhorns are one of the most penalized teams in the country. They commit an average of 8.5 fouls per game, ranking No. 122 out of 136 in FBS. Oddly enough, that’s not the worst in the SEC. South Carolina, Auburn, Mississippi State and Texas A&M are all being penalized at a higher rate this season, and that illustrates part of what Sarkisian took away from watching ball last weekend.
“I thought there were a lot of penalties this weekend. I don’t know if we’re calling things a little tighter or if teams are a little sloppy,” he said. “I know what our penalty situation is this year, so we’re looking inward for the first four weeks, and this weekend gave me a chance to look outward and see what’s going on around the country.”
So far this season across the SEC, teams are averaging roughly seven penalties per game. That’s up by about 0.5 from last season. Texas averaged 6.4 penalties per game last season, and Sarkisian said that obviously, he wants his team to limit the infractions going forward. With at least eight more games to play, it wouldn’t hurt for the Longhorns to make the guys in stripes keep the yellow hankies tucked into their belts.
Despite the penalties, Sarkisian said the level of football overall reminded him that no one can look at the SEC schedule and mark down a victory before stepping on the field. He didn’t really need the reminder, but he got it, anyway.
Alabama knocked off Georgia 24-21, Ole Miss took out LSU 24-19, Texas A&M survived Auburn 16-10 and Mississippi State nearly beat Tennessee, so truly anything can happen in any given week of the SEC. The Longhorns are going to experience that first-hand when they go to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators in “The Swamp” on Saturday.
“I think everybody better buckle up every Saturday in our conference,” he said. “We’ve got eight straight conference games, and it’s going to take a high level of play week in and week out to perform at a high level, because there just are no gimmies.”
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