Longhorns arrive in New Orleans ahead of Sugar Bowl
NEW ORLEANS (KXAN) — After a hero's sendoff from the UT Campus, the Texas Longhorns touched down in New Orleans on Wednesday afternoon. The Longhorns begin their preparation in The Big Easy for Monday's Sugar Bowl and College Football Playoff semifinal against Washington.
The break from the final regular season game, in UT's case, from Dec. 2 in the Big 12 Championship game to the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl, can be a challenge.
"I think one of the keys is you do a lot of the structural work from a game-planning
perspective back home," said head coach Steve Sarkisian. "Because we have so much time, we kind of take the week to really implement what we want to do when we're back at home.
When we're here, obviously, we want to take our time to make sure that we're putting forth maximum effort to get ready for the game. But also want to give our players a chance to experience this opportunity, experience the city of New Orleans, experience what they've earned — which is to be in the CFP. But I think our players will echo the same sentiment, you know? We're here to play our best football that we can play to try to win a semifinal game to get into the national championship. So I think there's definitely a workman-like mentality that this team has. But I want to make sure that they enjoy the experience as well, because they've earned it."
Sarkisian has said all season that the veterans on this Texas team are key to their success, and they echoed the coach's thoughts on balancing the bowl experience and playing for a spot in the National Championship game.
"You just have to give the game the respect it deserves," said fifth-year senior receiver Jordan Whittington. "All the external things are really cool, so we’ll get to see it and experience it, but other than that you have to respect the game because it demands it and we are here to win. We are here to play a football game. At the end of the day you have to figure out what you want
more and we all know what we want, which is to play a football game. The other stuff like the city is cool, but we are locked in."
"I think the biggest part is realizing how far you’ve come," said senior linebacker Jaylan Ford. "Realizing you didn’t come this far just to be here and enjoy the moment, you came this far to go win a national championship and hoist that trophy up into the air. I think when you keep that at the forefront of your mind, it pushes you to be better and to keep driving until you get to that point."
Ford and the Texas defense will be facing a Washington offense that features Heisman runner-up quarterback Michael Penix Jr., First Team All-American receiver Rome Odunze and an offensive line that won the Joe Moore Award for the best unit in the nation.
On the flip side, Washington will have to deal with arguably the best defensive tackle duo in the nation in First Team All-American T'Vondre Sweat and Second Team All-American Byron Murphy II.