Texas took care of business at home against Iowa State on Saturday to win their third straight game, but head coach Steve Sarkisian was not all that pleased with his team’s performance.
The No. 22 Longhorns needed a fourth-quarter rally to come from behind and beat Iowa State, who fell to 3-4 on the year. Quinn Ewers hit Xavier Worthy for a go-ahead touchdown with just under five minutes left in the fourth. Linebacker Jaylan Ford then recovered a fumble with 2:28 remaining to help Texas seal a 24-20 victory.
Despite the win, Sarkisian told reporters on Monday that he held a “come to Jesus meeting” with his players and staff. He took a page out of his former boss Nick Saban’s book when he said there was no “rat poison” being thrown around in the meeting.
What Saban refers to as “rat poison” is the media and fans distracting his players and making them complacent by heaping praise on them. This is not the first time that Sarkisian, who was Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama before he landed the Texas job, has borrowed the phrase.
Texas is now 5-2 after going 5-7 in Sarkisian’s first season last year. They nearly beat Alabama in a 20-19 game the second week of the season. The Longhorns have shown plenty of signs of improvement, but Sarkisian clearly does not want them getting comfortable. No one has mastered that approach better than his former boss.
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