AUSTIN – As The No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs make its way to Austin to take on the No. 1 Texas Longhorns, it’ll be a matchup for the ages, just like some of Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian’s favorite boxing matches. A known boxing fan, Sarkisian couldn’t help but recall how some of his favorite fights remind him of football games.
The first fight he remembers watching is Sugar Ray Leonard versus Roberto Duran and he later became a fan of heavyweight fights thanks to Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. Now, he’s using boxing analogies to prepare his team for this week’s game.
“Just like in boxing, in football, like you have to have a game plan, and you try to guys try to go out and execute that game plan, and then you have to be willing to adjust,” Sarkisian said. “You go into a boxing match and coming out in the opening round and a guy starts fighting to southpaw, you better be ready to adjust. And I think football is very similar, that we have to have a game plan, and then we have to have the willingness to adjust, but we got to make sure that we throw our best punches too, that we can’t always just react to the opponent, that we’ve got to throw our best punches as well.”
Not only can he use boxing as a lesson for game planning, but for facing adversity. When Texas went down in the first quarter against Oklahoma, it didn’t falter and scored 34 straight points.
Though Sarkisian said that 12-round fights are more interesting than quick knockouts, just like football games, sometimes a team needs a big blowout for a confidence boost.
“Playing the next snap is so critical, critical fighting the next round,” Sarkisian said. “You know, finishing the round, getting up off the mat when you do get knocked down and getting your getting regrouped. And so I think that’s why it’s really important when adversity strikes, that we stay really tight together as a team.”
Texas made the adjustments during the Red River Rivalry and after the first quarter, dominated Oklahoma in every aspect of the game. This week when facing an elite opponent like Georgia, it will need to do the same thing and regroup if needed.
“We fix the issues that we have collectively on the sidelines,” Sarkisian said. “It’s not about one person. It’s about how can all of us fix something that has occurred so that we can go play better as we move forward, we can fight better in rounds three, four and five, whatever that looks like. So I do think it’s there’s a lot of parallels to it.”
While the Oklahoma game can be seen as an early knockout, Sarkisian knows that the Georgia game has the potential to last all 12 rounds. Earlier this season, Georgia staged a 28-point comeback against Alabama but ultimately fell short.
Texas and Georgia has the potential to be a full 12-round fight.
“Everybody loves a great fight and loves entertainment. Nobody likes the knockout right early on, the Mike Tyson, 30 seconds, hidden type stuff,” Sarkisian said. “But in reality, when with two good teams and two good fighters step into the ring or step on the field, it’s usually a 12-round bout, whether it’s a split decision, whatever that looks like is generally because it was, there was a lot of momentum swings throughout the fight, and the scorecards were, what they were.”
No. 5 Georgia and No. 1 Texas will kick off at 6:30 PM central time on ABC.
