Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian went through a few emotions on Saturday.
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The No. 22 Longhorns trailed Mississippi State 31-14 heading into the fourth quarter. Texas outscored the Bulldogs 24-7 in the fourth quarter to force overtime and earn a 45-38 win in front of 52,680 fans at Davis Wade Stadium.
Amid the dramatic comeback, Texas has to deal with a powerful report hanging over the program. Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported on Saturday morning that representatives of Sarkisian had put out feelers for potential head coaching jobs in the NFL, including for the open Tennessee Titans position.
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“I’m told that representatives for Texas coach Steve Sarkisian have let NFL decision-makers know that he would be interested in potential head-coaching openings, including the Titans’,” Russini wrote.
In response to the report, CAA Football released a statement on behalf of Sarkisian’s agents, Jimmy Sexton and Ed Marynowitz, to deny the claims that Sarkisian was looking for opportunities in the league.
“Any reports regarding communications on coaching opportunities with NFL teams are patently false and wildly inaccurate. Sark is solely focused on coaching the University of Texas football team,” CAA Football posted on X Saturday afternoon.
During his postgame news conference, Sarkisian used strong language to describe his feelings about the report going viral in sports media.
“It really p***** me off that one person can make a report that the entire media sports world runs with as factual to the point where my agency has to put a statement out that they’ve never done,” Sarkisian said via Eric Henry of 247 Sports.
Sarkisian was clearly bothered by the report on Saturday. How much that factored into the Longhorns’ slow start is unknown.
Texas has two big games upcoming in the next three weeks. The Longhorns will host No. 10 Vanderbilt in Week 10 before traveling to play No. 5 Georgia on Nov. 15 after a bye in Week 11.
For more on the NCAA, head to Newsweek Sports.
