Steve Sarkisian ‘trusts the process’ ahead of massive season opener vs. Ohio State

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The 2025 college football season had a soft launch with a handful of games last weekend, but it’s about to blast off in a big way with some huge matchups in Week 1. The biggest, of course, is Texas hitting the road to The Horseshoe to face the defending national champions Ohio State Buckeyes.

Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian loves the challenge to open the season against the team that eliminated them from the College Football Playoff last season, and even at their place, he’s confident with his team’s track record of playing in hostile environments. Texas hasn’t lost a true road game since 2022, winning 11 consecutive games in an opponent’s stadium.

“I trust our process,” he said. “With what our practice plans look like, the crowd noise we work with, with the routine we get into and toning out what’s going on outside of us to focus on what’s going on between the white lines.”

During the road winning streak, Texas has won at places like Michigan Stadium, Kyle Field and Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and while he’s certainly not downplaying trying to beat the Buckeyes on their home turf, his team is prepared for the challenge.

“We’ve been in tough venues, and it’s important that we stay connected,” he said. “We need to be enamored with what we need to do and not get caught up in what’s going on around us.”

It’ll be Arch Manning’s first start against an opponent with the quality of Ohio State, and despite his lack of experience, he said he’s ready.

“I just have to trust my training, the coaches, the practice plan,” he said. “Go through my regular week of prep, and when the time comes, be ready to roll.”

Neither starting quarterback in the game has the experience for a marquee matchup like this, especially so early in their careers, but in Manning’s case, he at least has some game action under his belt. With two starts last season, that’s two more than Buckeyes starter Julian Sayin has in his career.

“We’re in a good spot and we’re catching a stride this past week and a half of camp,” Manning said. “We’re fired up and ready to play someone else besides our defense.”

A lot of pressure falls on the quarterback on any football team, but with the amount of hype and buzz about Manning, whether he thinks he deserves it or not, even the smallest misstep will be interpreted many different ways. Manning can’t afford to think about any of that because, quite simply, it doesn’t benefit anyone on the team. He’s said time and time again that he’s going to do what he feels is best for the team.

He wants to perform well, obviously, but he also has to remind himself that 10 other guys with him on the field are there to make him better.

“It’s not about me, it’s about the whole team,” he said. “We have to play the situations well, not give them short field, and take care of the ball. It should be a fun one.”

Sarkisian has confidence in Manning to run the offense because he “has to go get against our defense every day.”

“He’s practiced well and he’s been in these environments,” Sarkisian said. “It’s not like we didn’t put him in the game in the semifinals, we played him at Texas A&M, and now he just gets to play more snaps. I know he’s excited about that.”

Health check on Goosby, Mosley

Sarkisian said left tackle Trevor Goosby, who has been banged up a little bit in the latter portions of training camp, will be available Saturday. Transfer wide receiver Emmett Mosley IV has been “limited” in training camp, and Sarkisian didn’t say if he’d be available for Saturday.

“We’d all want him to be going the whole time with us,” he said. “He’s a very good football player. For him, the growth is going come as the season goes.”

Sarkisian compared Mosely, who played nine games for Stanford last year and had 48 catches for 525 yards and six touchdowns as a true freshman, to another breakout transfer receiver from last season, Matthew Golden. Mosley led all freshmen in the Atlantic Coast Conference in receptions last season.

“I don’t think I fielded a question about Matt before the first couple of games, but by the end of the year, he was the topic of discussion,” Sarkisian said. “His (Mosely’s) evolution will be really important as he gets more and more comfortable with us.”

Texas has avoided big injuries this training camp for the most part, outside of offensive lineman Andre Cojoe. He injured his knee in a non-contact drill early in camp and is out for the season.

Live updates from the press conference