AUSTIN (KXAN) — Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the site of the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday, is technically supposed to be neutral. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian knows that won’t be the case against the Georgia Bulldogs, and he’s already embracing it.
Since a 41-34 loss to Oklahoma State on Oct. 22, 2022, in Stillwater, the Longhorns are 11-0 in true road games. Coming off a 17-7 win in perhaps the most hostile environment in the country at Kyle Field, it feels like Texas can play in anybody’s backyard. They’ll certainly have to do that in Atlanta, about a 90-minute drive from campus in Athens.
“Our guys embrace it. They embrace being together and knowing they’re not running out of DKR and 105,000 burnt orange fans yelling for them,” Sarkisian said. “They get fueled by the boos and the crowd noise on the road. It helps them focus even better. It forces it and the communication. I would argue some of our best football over the past two years has been played on the road.”
Sarkisian said he “feels like” his team has more false starts at home than on the road, and his feeling is correct. In Texas’ four true road games this season, the team averaged 1.75 false start penalties per game. They had three such miscues at The Big House against Michigan in the second game of the season. At home, the Longhorns average 2.14 false starts per game, 15 flags in seven games. The outlier in those? Four false starts in the 30-15 loss to Georgia, the most they’ve had in a game all season.
The only game Texas didn’t false start in was the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma, a neutral site game. Before then, they were whistled for 12 false starts. After, they’ve had 10. Texas A&M and “The 12th Man” helped force two false starts.
“It’s been a journey to get to this point,” he said. “We’ve gone into some pretty tough environments and played pretty good football.”
All-American left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. has been a key piece to that, and he went out of the Lone Star Showdown early in the first quarter with an ankle injury and didn’t return. Sarkisian said the situation is similar to Quinn Ewers’ ankle injury and the coaching and medical staff will have to monitor it throughout the week. Sarkisian said Monday was “a good start to the week for him (Banks).”
In Banks’ absence, redshirt freshman tackle Trevor Goosby shined. He was one of the two players whistled for false starts against the Aggies, but other than that, he played a near-perfect game.
“He played a heck of a game for us,” Sarkisian said of Goosby. “I don’t think anybody blinked. He didn’t, the guys around him didn’t. We didn’t panic.”