Steve Sarkisian Says the SEC's Nine-Game Schedule Takes a Physical Toll: 'That's One More Game of the Physical Pounding'
Texas is back in the SEC title race after beating No. 7 Ole Miss, but its coach is still arguing with the conference's math — a ninth league game, he says, is one more week of pounding on rosters that are already losing starters.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has his team back in the SEC championship race, and he is still not done arguing about the schedule that got it there. In comments reported by ClutchPoints on Thursday night, Sarkisian said he and the league's other coaches share reservations about the SEC's move to nine conference games, and he gave two reasons: the physical toll, and what that toll does to a team's playoff chances.
'One is the obvious one. That's one more game of the physical pounding that this league takes its toll on you with, right? So we all want to be at our best,' Sarkisian told reporters. 'We all want to be as healthy as we can be, we all have aspirations of making the playoff. And you want to be at your best if you can make the playoff and have a full roster available.'
Texas is living his argument. The Longhorns beat then-No. 7 Ole Miss 34-27 in Austin last weekend to improve to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in SEC play, but they did it while losing starting left tackle Trevor Goosby for the season and with star edge rusher Colin Simmons already out with an ankle injury. 'We've all, I mean we're no different than a lot of the other teams, we've all suffered some pretty significant injuries along the way,' Sarkisian said.
The argument lands in a live week, not a quiet one. Texas hosts Mississippi State (4-3, 2-3 SEC) on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC, a game the Longhorns cannot afford to drop if the title-race and 12-team playoff paths the Ole Miss win reopened are going to stay open. Whether the ninth game ever comes back out of the schedule is the conference's decision; the pounding, Sarkisian's point goes, is already on the injury report.
