Steve Sarkisian History Favors Ohio State in Top-Five Showdown vs Texas
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
The Ohio State Buckeyes and Texas Longhorns are getting ready to kick off what should be the biggest game from the Week 2 college football schedule.
The game will be played in Austin, switching from Columbus, where the two teams played a year ago. Ohio State was able to get the win last season, behind a solid defensive performance.
This year, the challenge for the Buckeyes will be even harder, with the Texas fans ready to get rowdy.
But while the Longhorns do have home-field advantage in this game, history may favor the Buckeyes to come away with the win. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is 4-8 when facing off against a top-10 opponent as a ranked team with the Longhorns.
To make things even worse for Texas, Sarkisian owns a 2-6 record in top-10 matchups. While this is an entirely different game, season, and team for the Longhorns, the history of their head coach does matter.
Ohio State will be trying to give him another loss on that record, hoping to establish themselves as the true power in the sport this season. Much of this will fall on the shoulders of the Buckeyes' quarterback Julian Sayin, who is seen as a Heisman Trophy candidate this season.
Sayin, the Buckeyes' junior quarterback, threw for 3,610 with 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions a year ago. Entering this season, Sayin knows that he will need to cut down the turnovers, giving his team a better chance to win games.
Former college football head coach Nick Saban unpacked what he thinks Sayin needs to do in order to find success against Texas. Saban understands pressure in games like this very well, having won seven National Championships over his coaching career.
“I think processing is one of the most important things a quarterback has to do,” Saban said. “You get the ball quick. You got to get out of your hand quickly. You got to throw it to the right guy.”
The Buckeyes signal-caller completed 84 percent of his passes in Ohio State’s opener, showing some signs that he could be fine for this game against Texas. But the Longhorns will pose a larger challenge than Ball State did.
However, if the Buckeyes want to reach the level of being National Champions that they believe they can be, Sayin is going to have to play well in these big games. If he can't perform up to par, the Buckeyes' season could end much sooner than expected.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos