Texas coach Steve Sarkisian mentioned on Friday that Ohio State is “the most effective crew in faculty soccer,” and the Longhorns will want their finest efficiency within the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Jan. 10 to beat the Buckeyes.
“I would like Longhorn Nation to indicate out in Arlington,” Sarkisian mentioned. “We’re going to wish every thing we have to attempt to win this recreation. Clearly, we’re large underdogs. Nobody’s going to present us a shot. … This is the most effective crew in faculty soccer, and we will need to guarantee that we put our greatest ahead to present ourselves an opportunity to win the sport.”
Oregon was the No. 1 crew in all six of this 12 months’s College Football Playoff rankings, with Ohio State No. 2 within the first 4 of them.
After crushing the Ducks, 41-21, together with main 34-0 within the second quarter, the Buckeyes are surging as they head to AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Sarkisian mentioned the offense, particularly broad receivers Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka, pose an enormous problem.
“They’re each huge bodily gamers,” Sarkisian mentioned. “They have size, they’ve velocity, they’ve playmaking capability on the ball. They have actually huge catch radiuses. They’ve received the scheme to go together with it, with Coach [Chip] Kelly and Coach [Ryan] Day, they usually’ve received a quarterback who delivers on the ball. So you add all that up, these guys are impactful gamers which can be actual points and we will have a tough time guarding ’em.”
Both groups are going through acquainted quarterbacks. Texas’ Quinn Ewers spent his freshman 12 months at Ohio State earlier than transferring again to Austin, and Will Howard confronted the Longhorns with Kansas State earlier than transferring to Ohio State.
“[Howard] snapped off a couple of 70-yard landing run towards us just a few years in the past. So he has good velocity, he is received nice poise and composure within the pocket,” Sarkisian mentioned. “He throws passes the place they should be thrown and guys make performs for him.”
Day mentioned earlier on Friday that Ewers was one of many first eighth-graders he ever supplied after seeing his launch in an Ohio State camp. After C.J. Stroud emerged because the starter at OSU, Ewers transferred to Texas following Sarkisian being employed.
“He’s had an ideal profession at Texas and lots of people right here nonetheless have good relationships with him and suppose the world of him,” Day mentioned.
Sarkisian mentioned Ewers’ progress within the Texas program since arriving from Columbus was evident in his resiliency within the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, delivering two late landing passes to rally the Longhorns.
“To watch him develop into the chief that he is grown into for us, his capability to have the poise and composure he has, not solely on the sphere, however off the sphere, to look into the face of adversity and are available out on the opposite aspect of it time and time once more,” Sarkisian mentioned. “To be at his finest when his finest was wanted, just like the Peach Bowl there on the finish of the sport and in additional time, I feel that is all a seismic shift from a maturity standpoint, bodily and mentally.”
And Sarkisian mentioned being the final remaining SEC crew within the playoff of their first 12 months within the league is one thing the Longhorns take delight in.
“I actually imagine this can be a premier soccer convention in America due to the week-in, week-out activity that it requires bodily and mentally,” Sarkisian mentioned. “I do know sadly for Georgia, they misplaced their beginning quarterback within the SEC championship recreation, and I’m certain different groups in our convention needed to endure issues that may take their toll in your crew, and that is no excuse. At the tip of the day, now we have to discover a option to navigate our methods by it, however to be right here on this stage to be again within the ultimate 4 carrying that SEC patch on our jersey, we will do our greatest to symbolize it as a result of this can be a heck of a convention.”
