Sometimes, things can get awkward fast — college football is the same way. Believe me, I should know. I had this exchange with Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian earlier this week when posing a question about Arch Manning wincing after certain throws.
“According to who?”
Uh-Oh. Uhhhhhhhh
“Arch.”
“Arch said that to you?” the man on the podium finally declared.
Um. Um. Um.
“No…”
“According to who?” he repeated once more.
Think. Think. THINK!
“It just looked like he was.” Nice, dude. Brilliant. Pulitzer-worthy reporting right there.
“He doesn’t have any,” the man said coldly.
Ok, that’s it. I can get out of it now. Just stop talking, pass the mic and—
“Is there an explanation to why he looked like that?”
And then, the alea iacta est. head coach Steve Sarkisian’s words — not Julius Caesar’s — “I don’t know, I’ve never filmed any of you guys when you were using the bathroom, so I don’t know what faces you make when you’re doing that.”
Not exactly the shining moment of my young reporting career. But if that exchange taught me anything, it’s that even the simplest question or decision can blow up in your face.
Week three is full of so-called “cupcake” matchups, where playoff-bound teams square off against the bottom of the barrel, simply because the schedule says so. And every year, some head coach makes a poorly timed decision, leaving one of their star players out on the field for far too long in a game that never should’ve put them at risk in the first place.
Nobody should be blowing a knee against Cupcake State.
Just ask Oklahoma State’s Hauss Hejny, the Cowboys’ starting redshirt freshman quarterback — well, he used to be the starting quarterback. Going against UT-Martin to open the season, Hejny got hurt late in the first quarter with a broken bone in the left foot. What happens next week? 69-3 loss to Oregon. Yikes.
How about quarterback Jordan Travis, who got hurt against North Alabama in 2023, ending his season? Or USC quarterback JT Daniels’ season opener against Fresno State? What about Navy quarterback Tago Smith against Fordham? The list goes on and on and on.
The concern this week for Texas should be injuries. An injury against a non-competitive opponent can be detrimental to a season. The books have Texas as a strong 40.5-point favorite, according to ESPN, so there’s little reason to go too crazy. Luckily, it seems that Sarkisian has a good head on his shoulders about it.
“At this juncture of the season, I’m just not in a rush to push guys back out there if they’re not as close to 100% or even closer,” Sarkisian said. “Is the juice worth the squeeze right now for Saturday?”
The “juice” refers to junior running back Quintrevion Wisner, who went down against Ohio State and did not return to the field against San José State. Sarkisian is in no rush to bring back guys who are hurt. Sophomore defensive lineman Alex January and wide receivers sophomore Emmett Mosley and junior DeAndre Moore Jr. are all doubtful against UTEP.
So, coach. My question was probably — actually, definitely framed wrong. But the concern for injury is shared with the rest of the Longhorn nation. This is the team the Texas faithful have been waiting for; all the painful years are in the past.
Let’s not blow it up. Handle UTEP, handle the bench, handle Manning and get to week four. Now is the time to prove how deep this roster runs. All those high recruiting classes, let’s see them come to fruition against the Miners.
