Oct 53 min read

No. 2 Texas Focuses on Mentality During Bye Week

Texas bye week — © Mikala Compton/American-Statesman/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The No. 2 Texas Longhorns (5-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) have a bye week and will not take the field this weekend. However, that doesn't mean everything is perfect or the team will take the break for granted.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian is using the off week to ensure his team is prepared for the rest of the season, both mentally and physically.

"There's been a lot of good to what we're doing, but the biggest thing for me is the mentality of the team," Sarkisian told the media during a news conference on Sept. 30. "I challenged them really hard this morning about what this bye week was going to be about—how we're going to try to improve, how we're going to get better—and I think they understand that."

What's Good

Texas has been good on both sides of the ball, scoring 45 points per game while allowing opponents to score just 3 total touchdowns. The rushing offense was also a concern going into the season but has performed beyond expectations to make the Longhorns an even stronger team.

"We've got great balance right now," Sarkisian explained. "As much as the passing game gets a lot of notoriety, we're averaging just under 200 yards per game rushing the football. When we can do that and we're throwing the ball for over 300 yards a game, that can make things challenging for our opponents."

Texas Bye Week Improvements

Sarkisian pointed at self-inflicted faults as the primary area he wants to improve, mainly with untimely penalties and mistakes and ill-advised turnovers. The Longhorns have a plus-2 turnover margin but want to do better going forward.

"We've got to minimize the self-inflicted wounds because we are really doing some very good things offensively," Sarkisian said.

Bye Week Mindset

Sarkisian adjusted Texas' practice schedule during the bye week, pushing the actual practices and game-planning to the middle of the week and supplementing them with weightlifting before allowing the team to disperse for the weekend.

The idea of the design is to help break things up during the long haul of the season, especially with national championship aspirations that would now take the Longhorns' season into late January 2025.

What Lies Ahead

When they return from their first bye week, the Longhorns face a difficult stretch with No. 19 Oklahoma (4-1, 1-1) and No. 5 Georgia (3-1,1-1) in back-to-back games and Oct. 12 and Oct. 19, respectively. Luckily, they will not have to leave the state for those games. Still, both present incredible challenges in an otherwise "easy" SEC schedule.

Oklahoma was the only team to derail the Longhorns during the regular season in 2023, and the Sooners have drawn Sarkisian's attention this season.

"They're one of the nation's leaders in sacking the quarterback, and they do a great job of creating turnovers," he said. "Those are both things that are kind of staples of Brent Venables defenses—very attacking, really schematic. He's not afraid to mix things up from one week to the next."

If they survive the Sooners, the Longhorns will host Georgia on Oct. 19. Georgia recently lost to No. 1 Alabama (4-0, 1-0) and will be looking to reassert its dominance as an SEC and national contender.

Following that stretch, the only remaining ranked opponent for the Longhorns is No. 25 Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0) in the renewal of the Lonestar Showdown on Nov. 30 in College Station, Texas.

With the biggest games of the year still to come, it's no wonder Sarkisian wants his team mentally fresh and prepared throughout the bye week.