Texas is facing a battle this weekend when it heads to play the defending champions, Michigan. Even though the Longhorns are favored in the game, it will be a tough test.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is now in his fourth season with the program, and he’s ready to build on his success in 2023 when he made the college football playoffs.
Sarkisian spent time as Alabama’s offensive coordinator before taking the Texas head coaching job in 2021, and the 50-year-old head coach is trying to build his program like his former boss, Nick Saban.
During the CBS Inside College Football Show, former college football coach Rick Neuheisel discussed how Sarkisian is building Alabama in Austin.
Texas Could Be The Next Alabama
Neuheisel brought up what is happening in Texas, which is what happened in Athens under Kirby Smart and how Georgia won two national championships after Smart was Alabama’s defensive coordinator under Nick Saban.
“Sarkisian is buiding Alabama in Austin” pic.twitter.com/TP0jnp7qPq
— BCS Joschloss🤘🇻🇦 (@JosephManero) September 4, 2024
Smart took what he learned from Saban and built his program the same way, and now Sarkisian is doing the same thing, building Alabama in Austin.
Sarkisian is building Texas in the same mindset Smart did at Georgia and follows the same plan that Saban showed the two while they were his assistants.
Neuheisel makes a lot of great points here, and the Longhorns are looking more and more like Alabama and what Georgia has done in the past few years.
Many Nick Saban assistants have had trouble succeeding as head coaches, but Smart has done a wonderful job, and now Sarkisian is the next to build his program and win a title.
Nick Saban might not be coaching anymore, but his impact is still all over the sport, and when you tune into Alabama, Texas, Georgia, and even Ole Miss games with head coach Lane Kiffin, you will see a lot of Saban-style teams, which is great for all of college football.
It will be interesting to see how Texas does this weekend against Michigan, and hopefully, it lives up to the hype.
