Texas
Washington’s DeBoer, Texas’ Sarkisian built playoff teams with holdovers from previous coaches
![Washington’s DeBoer, Texas’ Sarkisian built playoff teams with holdovers from previous coaches Washington’s DeBoer, Texas’ Sarkisian built playoff teams with holdovers from previous coaches](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/images/apmediaapi/2023/12/30/USAT/72069369007-CFP_Sugar_Bowl_Washington_Football_53658.jpeg?auto=webp&crop=8639,4861,x0,y449&format=pjpg&width=1200)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Remaking a roster has never been easier in college football for a coach taking over a new team.
If the players aren’t to the new guy’s liking, they can be nudged — or even shoved — into the transfer portal to create room for potential upgrades.
As Deion Sanders told the players at Colorado in his first team meeting: “I’m bringing my luggage with me, and it’s Louis.”
At Washington and Texas, extreme makeovers weren’t needed. In fact, the holdovers from the previous regimes for the second-ranked Huskies (13-0) and third-ranked Longhorns (12-1) formed the core of two College Football Playoff teams that will face each other Monday night in the Sugar Bowl.
The programs Washington coach Kalen DeBoer and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian inherited weren’t necessarily lacking talent. What they needed was for the players to embrace a new message.
“We weren’t just going to bring a wave of guys in,” DeBoer said Saturday at Sugar Bowl media day. “We were going to be very careful because we knew, you might bring two guys in and it might push the wrong two out. And we wanted to be really careful with that because we felt like there was a base within the program of good football players, great people.”
For the second-ranked Huskies (13-0), 30 of the 44 players on the two-deep depth chart — specialists included — were on the team before DeBoer took over after the 2021 season, including AP All-America receiver Rome Odunze and tackle Troy Fautanu, defensive end Bralen Trice and linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, all third-team All-Americans.
“A lot of us were gonna leave after lake after (former coach Jimmy) Lake got dismissed, and I think you got to give (DeBoer) a lot of credit because he recruited the heck out of all of us. He he was trying super hard and he was having so many authentic conversations,” said Ulofoshio, a sixth-year player who came to Washington when Chris Petersen was the head coach.
Petersen stepped down after the 2019 season and Lake was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach, hoping to keep continuity in a program that seemed to be on solid ground.
Lake’s two seasons include the abbreviated 2020 pandemic season in the Pac-12 and then a tumultuous 4-8 season in 2021, when he was fired with two games left.
DeBoer was lured away from Fresno State, bringing with him a large chunk of a staff of assistants who had worked with him at several previous stops.
They wanted to send a message to the players: “We chose them. And with us choosing them, we wanted to keep them around,” Washington co-defensive coordinator William Inge said.
Tight end Jack Westover, another sixth-year player, credits Petersen for laying a foundation and building a culture that kept the team tight-knit even through a couple of bumpy seasons.
“It’s important to buy in to the (new) coaches, but really when you do that, you’re buying into each other,” he said.
Sarkisian took over a Texas team after the 2020 season that had gone 25-12 in the previous three years under Tom Herman.
“When you take over a program, you’re trying to figure out what are the issues and I don’t think anybody ever felt like our issue was lack of talent or lack of resources,” Sarkisian said. “I just felt like culturally, we needed to get better. We needed to get more connected. We needed to get more vulnerable, we needed to get honest with one another, so that we played more for one another than playing for ourselves.”
Sarkisian said former Longhorns running backs Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson, both NFL rookies this season, were critical in building the culture he felt was missing at Texas.
“I thought those guys really carried the flag for what we were trying to do in our program, when very easily those two guys could have went somewhere else,” Sarkisian said.
There are 16 players from the 2020 team still playing for Texas, including some of the Longhorns’ best: All-America defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat, leading tackler Jaylan Ford, defensive back Jahdae Barron and starting offensive linemen Christian Jones and Jake Majors.
“We all took it upon ourselves to be leaders and kind of encouraged what Sark was preaching and what these coaches were preaching because we knew that we had a chance to be one of the best in the country,” Ford said.
Initially, the change was jarring.
“You do something a certain way for three years. And then they basically came in and was like, the way that you’re lifting is wrong, the way that you’re running is wrong, the way that you’re practicing is wrong, everything that you’ve done wrong, and this is right,” Jones said.
Jones also noticed quickly that Sarkisian was trying hard to connect with the players. Jones recalled Sarkisian, less than a week into his tenure at Texas, asking about his girlfriend.
“He cares about everything that’s a part of your life because he knows that it all ties into the product on the field,” Jones said.
Sarkisian instituted Culture Wednesdays in an attempt to get his players to open up, the way he does to them about his past struggles with alcohol that cost him the head coaching job at Southern California and led him to rehab.
“I really believe that culture is organic. I don’t think it’s a sign up in your team room,” Sarkisian said.
Barron said Culture Wednesday was a way for the players to get to know their teammates away from the field.
“Knowing that if you can trust them off the field, it’s easy to trust somebody on the field,” Barron said.
By building upon what they found, DeBoer and Sarkisian didn’t need to go searching for what they needed to win.
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
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Texas
Conner Weigman, Texas A&M do Mike Elko no favors in losing debut vs. Notre Dame
![Conner Weigman, Texas A&M do Mike Elko no favors in losing debut vs. Notre Dame Conner Weigman, Texas A&M do Mike Elko no favors in losing debut vs. Notre Dame](https://dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/3GSXN4NI5ZWBZPXZG553AZOKDI.jpg?auth=ce9f1dc5c92b1c99600c041e9c68c2245aef03b0e4c17d3861987d41a062cd6c&height=467&width=830&focal=1608,323&quality=80)
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No Texas A&M football coach ever had a better shot at making a good first impression than Mike Elko, who nevertheless said before Saturday’s opener that if he’d had his druthers, he’d have preferred a debut against something other than seventh-ranked Notre Dame.
The Aggies’ first 14 coaches broke in against the likes of Sam Houston, Southwestern, Trinity, Austin College, a half-dozen high school teams and the Houston YMCA.
Only six A&M coaches had the misfortune to start out against a ranked team, and, of those precious few, R.C. Slocum owned the lone W.
Still does.
Notre Dame denied Elko’s bid to match the patron saint of Aggie coaches when Riley Leonard led an 85-yard fourth-quarter drive for a 23-13 win over the 20th-ranked Aggies in front of 107,315, fourth-largest crowd in Kyle Field history.
“You deserved better,” Elko said in a public apology to the faithful.
“We didn’t give it to you.”
A&M’s upset hopes died when Conner Weigman’s fourth-and-2 pass was broken up and nearly became his third interception, which tells you what kind of night it was.
And if that didn’t, this did: Weigman lost his lunch at halftime.
“Just got a little sick,” is how Elko put it.
“Puke and rally.”
Nice.
Weigman’s struggles in his return from a broken foot in the fourth game last year will be a point for Elko to revisit this week. He completed just 12 of 30 passes for 100 yards, a couple of picks and a 54.7 passer rating. Couldn’t get in a rhythm, Elko said, adding they must find ways to make him more “comfortable.”
Of all the issues the new boss figured to face early, I’m thinking this wasn’t one of them. Then again, Notre Dame will present problems for a lot of teams this fall, and not just one under new management.
Previous administrations didn’t do Elko any favors. Jimbo Fisher, fresh off maybe the most ballyhooed/hooted contract in college football history, drew Northwestern State in his 2018 debut. Of course, the next week he got second-ranked Clemson and lost, 28-26. A harbinger of sorts. Under Jimbo, the Aggies were good but never quite good enough, a cardinal sin at those prices, not to mention in the merciless SEC.
Over the next five seasons, Jimbo had his moments. A 9-1 season in 2020 and an upset of top-ranked Alabama the next year come to mind.
But he never won more than nine games and alienated Aggies with fat wallets.
Having said that, if Weigman hadn’t gotten hurt, I’m not so sure Elko wouldn’t still be back at Duke. Before their starting quarterback’s injury, the Aggies were on their way to a 3-1 start. Weigman, who looked like the kind of quarterback that made Jimbo famous at Florida State, closed out last season with a 156.8 passer rating.
From that point, A&M won four of its last nine games, leaving Jimbo’s warts for all to see.
Elko won the job over Kentucky’s Mark Stoops — a clumsy bit of business, at that — because he’d been Aggie-tested as a former defensive coordinator and came up the Anti-Jimbo. He’s certainly likeable. Even his former Duke players couldn’t work up much of a mad against him when ESPN visited recently. The gist of the story was how Elko and Leonard, a former Duke coach and quarterback, would find themselves on the same field but different sidelines Saturday.
Elko maintained he’d rather have faced any quarterback than Leonard, listing so many admirable traits it wasn’t clear if he’d coached him or adopted him.
“I told him I loved him after the game,” Elko said. “I will be rooting for the kid for the rest of his life.”
Leonard took a little while to get things going, but, in the third quarter, he handed off to Jadarian Price, who cut to the left sideline and went 47 yards for the game’s first touchdown and a 13-6 lead. Notre Dame penalties (11 for 99 on the night) helped the Aggies pull even. A hands-to-the face moved A&M to the Irish 21, where Stanford transfer EJ Smith — Emmitt’s boy! — ripped off a 14-yard run to the 7. A pass interference penalty in the end zone put the Aggies at the 2, whereupon they took a battering ram approach to a 13-13 tie.
But Leonard, who finished 18 of 30 for 158 yards and rushed for 63 more, took all of the steam out of the crowd on a hot night with his 85-yard march in the fourth.
“We learned we have glimpses where we are a good football team,” offensive tackle Trey Zuhn said, “but we need to show we can strain every play, every drive to be successful.
“We beat ourselves, mentally and physically.”
As a former defensive coordinator, Elko was offended that the Aggies gave up 198 yards rushing. As a head coach, he should have been mad that he didn’t get the same considerations his predecessor did, and I’m not talking about the contract.
By the way: Jimbo revealed this week that he’s not just sitting on that $75 million the Aggies owe him. He’s co-hosting a show with a couple of his ex-players on SiriusXM. In the press release, he said, “I love talking about football almost as much as I love coaching.” We’ll take his word for it. Frankly, half of what he said I couldn’t follow, and the other half wasn’t worth the chase.
This is Elko’s job now, to have and to hold, at least for a while. Saturday was proof that he has his hands full. On the bright side, not every game will be as difficult. Next week, in fact, brings McNeese. It’s not the YMCA, but it’s the best athletic directors can do these days.
Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN
Find more Texas A&M coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Texas
Texas state representative flips to GOP, says Democrats have plunged into 'progressive abyss'
![Texas state representative flips to GOP, says Democrats have plunged into 'progressive abyss' Texas state representative flips to GOP, says Democrats have plunged into 'progressive abyss'](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-2153273508-scaled-e1725124270246.jpg)
A Democratic state politician in Texas is flipping to the Republican Party for her final four months in office.
State Rep. Shawn Thierry published a statement to social media on Friday decrying the Democratic Party’s march into the “progressive abyss” after she lost her primary for supporting a GOP-led bill protecting minors from gender transition procedures.
“The Democratic Party has veered so far left, so deep into the progressive abyss, that it now champions policies that I cannot, in good conscience, support — policies like promoting sex changes for children during a vulnerable stage of their lives, and dismantling Title IX protections for women in sports,” Thierry wrote.
TEXAS RESIDENTS AFFECTED BY BORDER SECURITY UNDER BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN EXPRESS FEAR OF FUTURE ATTACK
Texas State Rep. Shawn Thierry during a campaign event alongside African American pastors at Sunnyside Park in Houston. Thierry lost in the Democratic Primary run-off election earlier this year after breaking with the party over access to gender transition procedures for minors. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Thierry said because of her break with the values of her party, she will serve her final few months in office as a member of the GOP.
“I now stand with the party of Lincoln, the party that fought to preserve our Union and fought to end the atrocities of slavery,” she added.
Thierry lost to primary challenger Lauren Ashley Simmons during a runoff election in May.
TEXAS ANNOUNCES OVER 1M INELIGIBLE VOTERS REMOVED FROM VOTING ROLLS SINCE LAST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
A major factor in her failure within the Democratic Party is believed to have been her support for a 2023 Republican bill that barred gender transition for minors.
“Mothers around our country from all backgrounds, races, and communities understand that it’s our sacred duty to preserve the innocence of our children, protect them from being sexualized, and sterilized,” Thierry wrote. “To respect universal truths, and to uphold the rights of biological women as defined by science, nature, and common sense.”
![Lauren Ashley Simmons](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/GettyImages-2033061516-scaled-e1725124394166.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
State Representative District 146 Candidate Lauren Ashley Simmons speaks to volunteers from Equality Texas and union members before heading out for a round of door-knocking in the afternoon in Houston. Simmons defeated Thierry in a Democratic run-off election in May. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
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“I will not be alone; I will be with millions of courageous women and men of good conscience, who are willing to place people over political ideology,” she concluded.
Texas
Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M football: Predictions, odds and how to watch Saturday
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Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman on expanded playoff
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman spoke with USA TODAY Sports about the expanded playoff and how it will impact the upcoming season.
Sports Seriously
The 2024 college football season begins in full with Week 1, and there might not be a juicier reunion than the one taking place when No. 7 Notre Dame visits No. 20 Texas A&M in a huge non conference clash of playoff hopefuls Saturday night.
New Texas A&M coach Mike Elko will face his former quarterback from Duke because Riley Leonard transferred to Notre Dame soon after Elko left the Blue Devils for the SEC and College Station, Texas this offseason. Either Elko or Leonard will leave with a loss in their debut at a new school.
The first matchup between Notre Dame and Texas A&M in football since 2001 is getting the “College Gameday” treatment by ESPN and will be featured nationally in primetime on ABC.
The Aggies are looking to rebound from last season’s 7-6 campaign that saw former coach Jimbo Fisher get fired in November for a record buyout amount. Notre Dame wants to build on winning 10 games in coach Marcus Freeman’s second season and will count on Leonard’s dual threat capability to lead the program into the expanded postseason format.
Here’s everything else to know about the Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M college football game on Saturday night:
COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON PREDICTIONS: Picks for who makes playoff, wins title and more
College football 2024: Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M predictions
Covers.com: Take Notre Dame and the points
Ed Scimia writes: “It’s questionable whether Texas A&M has done enough to truly catch up with Notre Dame in terms of overall talent. On defense, the Irish have NFL-level talent, particularly in their secondary, something that could give (Texas A&M quarterback Conner) Weigman fits at the start of the season … I’m not convinced Texas A&M should be the favorite here, and neither are most predictive systems.”
Odds Shark: Back Leonard and the Irish at plus-money
Josie Costigan writes: “This may be the brightest spot for an upset in Week 1.”
Action Network: Take the over
Brad Cunningham writes: “The total is far too low for two offensive coordinators who are going to play at much faster tempos than these offenses have in the past. I have 54.2 points projected for this game, so I like the value on over 46.5 points.”
Dallas Morning News: Texas A&M wins a close one
Luke White writes: “Home field advantage could prove to be the difference as the Aggies land the final punch in a slugfest.”
College Football News: Texas A&M in a nail-biter
Pete Fiutak writes: “The critical difference will be Texas A&M’s defensive front, which is talented enough to disrupt (Notre Dame quarterback Riley) Leonard and force him to make a lot of big-time throws. It will be a tightly contested battle between two excellent football teams, but the atmosphere and energy at Kyle Field prove too tough for the Irish, who will lose their fourth straight road game against a ranked opponent.”
Winners and Whiners: Take Notre Dame +2.5
Mark Ruelle writes: “The Irish have a very favorable schedule this season and realize the enormity of this opening game against the 20th-ranked Aggies. The Aggies have a ways to go to improve upon an offense that was just 101st in the country in red zone efficiency last season. The Aggies will be a team that no one wants to play later in the season but the Irish are catching them early and should be the team that is more equipped to win out of the gates.”
Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M odds, lines
The Texas A&M Aggies are favorites to beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Saturday’s Week 1 college football matchup, according to the BetMGM odds. Looking to wager? Check out the top college football betting apps in 2024 offering the top NCAA football betting promos and bonuses in 2024.
Odds as of Thursday morning
- Spread: Texas A&M (-3)
- Moneylines: Texas A&M (-150); Notre Dame (+125)
- Over/under: 46
How to watch Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M
Date: Saturday, August 31
Where: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: ABC
Stream: ESPN+, Fubo, Sling TV
Watch college football with a Fubo subscription
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