In general, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian believes that a team has one culture win a year, even in a program that has built an enviable culture strong enough to make back-to-back appearances
in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
So Sarkisian called Saturday’s 45-38 overtime win over Mississippi State in Starkville a “mulligan” because Texas pulled of its second straight culture win, rallying from two 17-points deficits a week after battling to a 16-13 overtime win against Kentucky in Lexington.
Speaking on the SEC Weekly Teleconference, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea expressed his admiration for the toughness Sarkisian’s team displayed in those two wins.
“This is a resilient team, it’s a team that’s never out of the game. No lead is safe,” Lea said.
When the Bulldogs were up 38-21 early in the fourth quarter and the Horns faced a 3rd and 2 offensively, the win probability for Mississippi State reached 98.6 percent — at that point, everything had to go right for Texas to pull off the victory.
And everything did go right across all three phases as the Longhorns scored 17 points on offense, seven points on special teams, and got four straight stops defensively to secure the improbable comeback.
“They know how to fight back in all three phases. Obviously, the punt returner is dynamic and we’ve got to really have some answers for that,” Lea said. “But look, this is a really good defense. This is an offense that, when it clicks into motion, can score very quickly, and I think it’s really well-designed, really well-coached.”
The rebuilt at Vanderbilt is a testament to Lea’s savviness, suggesting that the Commodores may err on the side of not giving that dynamic punt returner, redshirt sophomore running back wide receiver Ryan Niblett, any chance at returns after scoring two touchdowns in the last three games and setting up two scores against Kentucky.
When Niblett broke off his 79-yard punt return touchdown last Saturday to tie the game with less than two minutes remaining, it swung the win probability nearly 40 percent.
“They obviously have a fighter’s mentality. For two weeks now, they’ve played in tightly-contested games and found ways to win. For as talented as they are, and as well coached as they are, there’s something to be said about that is their competitive fiber, so I think it says a lot about the character of that program,” Lea said.
Sarkisian certainly believes in the character of his Longhorns.
“What I love about this group is the connectivity,” Sarkisian said on Monday. “This is the closest coaching staff that we’ve had. These guys are in it together. We’ve got great rapport with one another. They’ve got great connection to the players. The players have great connection with one another.”
