AUSTIN – The University of Texas football team finds itself in a gray area with 11 days remaining until its season opener against Colorado State.
The Longhorns have played two live scrimmages, so fall camp is essentially over, but game week isn’t here yet. That doesn’t start until Sunday, but for now, head coach Steve Sarkisian’s team is trying to make this week feel as much like game week as possible.
“To start this week, we have something like a mock game on Saturday where we go through all the substitutions and situations that can arise on a Saturday,” Sarkisian said Monday morning.
“We are treating this week like a game week, and even though school hasn’t started yet, our entire schedule, practices and meeting times will be the same as if we were in class.”
As Sarkisian noted, classes in Texas don’t begin until August 26, so this exercise can’t be perfect, but it’s pretty close to the ideal.
Just to be safe, the Longhorns will begin their practice game on Saturday at DKR Memorial Stadium at 2:30 p.m., which matches the scheduled time for August 31 against the Rams.
Temperatures are expected to reach 95 degrees in Austin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Such heat is of course common in Central Texas in late August, so this is likely a weather preview of what we can expect for the opening game.
Using the heat as a distraction has been a major focus for Sarkisian this summer, and he’s opted to train at all times of day this month, not just in the sweltering afternoon heat.
“When you start training camp, we started the first two days at 2:30 p.m. and then we have guys with double-digit cramps,” Sarkisian said. “There are 15, 16, 17, 18 guys with cramps. Well, in the last two weeks, nobody has had any cramps and so they’re getting used to it again. We’re very conscious about it, but I think it’s important to get our guys used to it and I would be doing them a disservice if I never practiced at 2:30 p.m. and then trot into DKR on August 31 and expected them to perform at their best.”
“We’re very comfortable with our two players. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference, and that’s great. And our threes are coming, so we’re going to need all the depth we assembled on this squad at the beginning of the season, with the heat as it is.”
