Sarkisian deploys Principle 10 from The ‘Art of War’ on Ohio State before the game

We must first go back a few years when Steve Sarkisian first arrived at Texas and we started to ask him questions in his Monday press conferences.

Remembering one of Sarkisian’s answers on how he tries to help his players slow down the game, Sarkisian said, I coach like I played, cerebral. I teach the players to play cerebral so that they understand why they are running a particular play or why they are running a specific scheme.

Cerebral means “thinking”. The game of football at the college and NFL level are high-stakes chess matches and coaches, the greats, are grand masters. Belichick, Reed, McVay, Saban, Carroll are some in Sarkisian’s mastermind group.

In the pregame press conference between the head coaches, Sarkisian said something I had never heard him say before. When first hearing it, my head snapped and my eyes opened 10 times bigger like they did when after the press conference I got to meet the “Worlds Strongest Man” Mark Henry along with radio personality Mike Hardge from AM 1300 The Zone and ‘Hardge Knocks Life’ radio show and had the honor of having lunch with the men. Incredible!

This is from the transcript of Sarkisian:

“ … Coach Sarkisian, you said in our Zoom thing last week that you were a massive underdog. Why do you think that?”

Sarkisian replied, “Well, the reason they have the least amount of snaps is because they’re scoring so fast. 

There’s so many big plays that are happening. Some joke in that but some reality. 

They’ve been extremely explosive offensively. And I think a lot of times, in this format, and now we’re kind of in this NFL-format model, it’s not always about who was the best team for 12 games, it’s who’s playing the best football this time of the year.

And I think we could all agree what Coach Day has done, their team, them coming out of that Michigan game and what they’ve been able to do since the playoffs have started has been tremendous. And that’s a credit to Coach Day and his staff of re-galvanizing that roster and getting them going. 

I could probably poll everybody in this room and you’d probably all agree, they’re the favorite to win the game, and that’s okay. But that’s football. That’s sport. That’s why we have to do what we do.

So I’m not going to back off of what I said. The reality is the reality. Now, we have to go perform. That’s our responsibility as a football team, to go perform. But they’ve earned that right because of the way they’ve played here the past couple weeks.”

Now, think about a team’s psyche for a minute.

We have seen this over and over again with teams who have what is perceived as the upper hand, or when they are favored to win. Remember Texas vs Alabama at DKR or Texas vs Arizona State just a week ago in the Peach Bowl.

Alabama was the hands down favorite to beat Texas. In the Peach Bowl, Texas was the hands down favorite to beat Arizona State. Both games, while Alabama did beat Texas the first time and Texas beat Arizona State, almost did not turn out that way.

There is an argument that teams who think they are the favored to win play differently. The intensity is not the same as the team who is not favored to win, but thinks they can.

This has played out so many times in sports and tracks with Sarkisian’s cerebral method toward the game and what he said.

Sarkisian acknowledging that Ohio State is the better team right now. Was Sarkisian putting the Ohio State players, coaches, and staff in the state of less intensity, urgency, and focus before the game?

We think so.

Everyone recognizes Ohio State is the better team playing better football. Again, remember the games against Alabama and Arizona State.

Principle 10 from ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tzu: The importance of morale. Maintain high morale among your troops (team), while undermining the enemy’s morale. A motivated force (team) is more likely to succeed.

Sarkisian is a thinker without question. He has taught his team to be thinkers. The Cotton Bowl is the last game of the season for either Ohio State or Texas. This is war!

Ten principles (there many more) from the Art of War by Sun Tzu are: Supreme Excellence, Know yourself & Enemy, Deception & Foreknowledge, Speed & Preparation, Leadership & Discipline, Terrain & Timing, Exploit Weaknesses, Strategic Planning, Diplomacy & Alliances, and the Importance of Morale.

The 89th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, to the victor go the spoils.

The next time you watch or hear a press conference, listen differently. It may blow your mind and you will watch the game completely differently.

#HookEm