Steve Sarkisian, Texas troll Tennessee football with cigar celebration

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian took a slight a jab at Tennessee football in the postgame press conference after the No. 1 Longhorns held on for a 20-17 victory on Sept. 26 at Neyland Stadium.

In what he said was honoring a Tennessee custom, Sarkisian had a cigar in front of him as he took questions and said the Longhorns would smoke cigars in the locker room after knocking off the No. 13 Vols.

"It's just a little bit of tradition here in Tennessee," Sarkisian said. "We got cigars or somebody had cigars in there. I'm not certain."

Smoking cigars after a victory is a tradition famous in The Third Saturday of October, a rivalry between UT and Alabama that's been more than a century. But Sarkisian, who has worked two different stints as an assistant for the Crimson Tide, carried it into this matchup between the Longhorns and Vols.

Sarkisian as an offensive assistant and in 2016 at Alabama under Nick Saban, then served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for two seasons from 2019-20.

Alabama won all three games played against the Vols while Sarkisian was on staff. And in his first game against UT since joining Texas, Sarkisian added another win and another cigar.

"Only thing is my suit's probably going to stink when I get on the plane," he said.

Stephen Thompson covers Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball. Email him at stephen.thompson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @stephenethom.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Steve Sarkisian, Texas troll Tennessee football with cigar celebration