Nearly every single time he sits at the press conference table — postgame or Mondays, rain or shine — Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian says two enigmatic words.
“Complementary football.”
“I think ultimately, what came out of (this game), was we’ve got to be better at playing complementary football,” Sarkisian said the Monday after week one’s loss to Ohio State.
Then, a week later, after the win against San José State:
“More importantly was the ability to play complementary football,” Sarkisian said. “Which I didn’t think we did a great job of.”
If we are talking about Texas football’s priorities, this must be the first and last. The alpha and omega — The end-all, be-all.
And if that’s the case, you, my dear reader, must be curious — what exactly is complementary football? When we discuss the terms of game play being complementary, what’s the context?
Complementary football is explosiveness. It’s power. It’s a team that’s worth more as a whole, dynamic in knowing that potential is fulfilled when each member finds worth in the sum of the team’s parts rather than isolated individual successes.
Right now, Texas isn’t playing complementary football.
Why is the offense outlagged by the defense? How is Texas winning football games despite having just about 200 passing yards per game? Why are Texas’ explosive plays so inconsistent against cupcake teams, while the defense continues to stifle any fight from opponents (until the very last five minutes of the fourth)?
Complementary football is played when the offense consistently makes explosive plays and evens out both the vertical and ground game to efficiently maximize yardage and keep possession of the ball for a longer amount of time. On the other side, the defense contains the other team and creates its own plays to force turnovers and give opportunities to the offense.
“When we can be situational masters, the one thing that you’ve got to do is capitalize on turnovers … So that means that you’re playing as a connected team,” senior safety Michael Taaffe said after San José State. “You’re just playing complementary offense and defense.”
With an offense struggling to find its identity, complementary football has yet to be consistently exemplified in this Texas team.
With Southeastern Conference play on the horizon, the Longhorns are running out of time to prove — to themselves and to everyone else watching on the sidelines — that they are, in fact, capable of playing complementary football.
With all due respect, this Sam Houston game is the epitome of a cake walk. The defense so far in the Bearkats’ 0-3 season has allowed 442.3 yards per game on average, with about 314.7 of those allowed yards in the air.
If sophomore quarterback Arch Manning isn’t able to find a rhythm with his receivers this game, it may be time to wave goodbye to any prevailing, last-ditch hopes for this season.
But it isn’t just about Manning. Remember — this is about complementary football. Manning is not the sum of all the parts of this team. He’s just one working part in a Texas machine that has a long way to go to earn the coveted adjective of well-oiled.
There are two weeks left for that machine to run the way it needs to before it faces every other well-oiled machine in the SEC. I’d love to see a start this Saturday night.
