Head coach Steve Sarkisian believes he has a tougher, more tight-knit football team this season.

However, Sarkisian said on Monday that team chemistry won’t be tested until the Longhorns take the field against Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.

Even though Texas has a 98.8% chance to beat the Warhawks, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index, Sarkisian knows there will be times in the game when the ball doesn’t bounce the Longhorns’ way. He said while his players can’t control how the ball rolls, they can control how they react.

“How we respond is the key to the drill,” Sarkisian said. “I feel more comfortable with our team understanding that aspect as opposed to hoping the ball bounces our way and when it doesn’t, we get the ‘poor me’s.’ There’s no sympathy in that.” 

Though Sarkisian spent a fair amount of Monday’s media availability highlighting that much is still unknown about how the Longhorns will fare when facing opposition, he said he does know that his team has a unique ability to create explosive plays on both sides of the ball and special teams. 

Sarkisian said they have enough playmakers on offense to move the ball in a hurry and create huge plays on special teams, such as long returns and punt blocks. Defensively, the coaching staff has put emphasis on forcing turnovers.

For Texas to rack up the defensive takeaways it’s looking for, defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski will have to rely on the secondary to succeed with a slight change in scheme. In an effort to eliminate “freebie” throws, the Texas defense will play their defensive backs tighter to the line of scrimmage, Sarkisian said. This change might expose the defense to deep balls, but the idea is to help the defensive line generate quicker pressure on the quarterback.

“If I had (NFL defensive lineman) Aaron Donald, maybe we could play a little softer (with) eyes on the quarterback, but he’s not here right now,” Sarkisian said. “So we’ve got to find a way to tighten it up and allow the pass rush to get home. I think every year you’ve got to try to do what’s best for your team and your players to have success.”

With a juggernaut in No. 1 Alabama headed to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium the following week, it would be easy for Sarkisian and his squad to look past Louisiana-Monroe in favor of preparing for the Crimson Tide. Despite this, Sarkisian said he hasn’t felt that his team is looking ahead in any way.

In fact, the Texas head coach thinks this week of practice will be a competitive one. With Saturday’s contest to be played in the early September heat, Sarkisian expects much of his roster to see playing time in the season opener. Thus, opportunities could arise for players lower on the depth chart to make an impression on Saturday.

“Saturday we get one of those chances, so we don’t want that to go by,” Sarkisian said.