Texas HC Steve Sarkisian is high on the program's culture

It can't be doubted what head coach Steve Sarkisian has built at Texas.

He has slowly but surely brought the Longhorns back into the national conversation and he had his team just a few plays away from the national championship last season. Texas lost to Washington, 37-31, at the Sugar Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinal.

With a ton of talent – including starting quarterback Quinn Ewers – coming back for 2024, Sarkisian's team is expected to once again contend for a national title this fall. The Longhorns are going to be talented, there's no doubt about it.

What's more important for Sarkisian, though, is their mental attitude during the season – and he feels he is building something great in that regard.

“We’re going to be plenty talented, right? I’m not concerned about us being talented,” Sarkisian recently said, per ESPN. “It’s making sure that we’re playing at our best when our best is needed in the critical moments of games, and you play your best when you trust the guy next to you or when you can be accountable to the guy next to you and not feel like you have to go out on your own and do something out of character. We’ve got to live every day that way.”

What Sark is essentially talking about here is the culture of the program. There's an old saying that suggests "it's not about the X's and O's, it's about the Jimmy's and the Joe's." That's technically a football saying about talent, but great talent means nothing if a team can't work together, have each others backs and become more like a family than anything.

Per Sarkisian, that's exactly what Texas has.

“I think that’s something we’ve done a great job of over four years, and I’m not trying to be arrogant in saying that. I just believe that," Sarkisian explained. "I think we have the best culture in college football, but we have to recreate it every year. Culture doesn’t just carry over from one year to the next."

Texas is going to need its culture together right away in 2024. After a season opener against Colorado State, the Longhorns will travel to Ann Arbor to face the defending champion Michigan Wolverines in Week 2.