Steve Sarkisian quells Texas Longhorns noise against rival Texas A&M Aggies

Is it true that the Texas A&M Aggies will bring an excess of speakers to Kyle Field to make the stadium as unbearable as possible on Saturday against Texas? Absolutely. Edgey is not one to take the Lone Star Showdown lightly.

But for Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian, the buzz surrounding the renewal of such a historic rivalry hasn’t stopped him, especially when so much is at stake for the Longhorns.

“I definitely recognize that and the rivalry is great because of the build-up, yeah, but also the excitement and all that stuff. But at the end of the day, winning football games comes down to execution, it comes down to playing as a team.” Proper fitness comes down to how you play in critical moments, in special situations, how they arise, and I think you perform well in those situations because of really good preparation,” Sarkisian said while speaking to the media on Monday. “So as much as we recognize the rivalry, as much as we recognize trying to play to win the SEC championship game, we’re going to go back to today and see if we need to do today to put forward positive results, and that’s not news to us.”

It was confirmed Sunday that the winner of the Texas vs. Texas A&M game will be sent to Atlanta to face Georgia in the SEC Championship and ultimately secure a berth in the College Football Playoff.

Sarkisian has reiterated throughout the season that every game the Longhorns have played has been treated like an SEC championship game, and senior guard Jaddai Barron said this game is no different, despite what’s really on the line.

“The game will not change. The yard, the end zone, I’m not going to change. They will wear their colors, we will wear our colors,” Barron said. “We just need to come out and play a great game that the fans want to see.”

The talk of putting emotions aside during other marquee rivalries, such as the Red River rivalry against Oklahoma and even Arkansas, has been brought to light again by Sarkisian now that there is another rivalry on the horizon. While Sarkisian made it clear that emotions won’t get in the way of the team’s preparation and play, senior offensive lineman Jake Majors said he’s looking forward to representing such an iconic rivalry.

“For me, I’m just glad to be a part of it because I think it’s really cool to have a rivalry to be a part of. I can go out and play not only for myself and my team, but also for the guys that came before me, so I think it’s a real honor,” Majors said.

The Longhorns and Aggies tip off Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in College Station, and the game will be featured on ESPN’s pregame show “College Gameday.”

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