Steve Sarkisian is the head coach of top-ranked Texas, and today he faces his sixth Red River Rivalry against an unranked Oklahoma team. Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. CT at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on ABC, with the Longhorns at 4-0 and the Sooners at 2-2.
That is the short version. The longer version explains why Steve Sarkisian spent the week fielding questions about his wife, Nick Saban, and a rivalry that rarely behaves. For the full slate around this game, see our Week 6 college football guide.
Who Is Steve Sarkisian, and Why Is He Trending?
Sarkisian is 52 and in his sixth season in Austin. His Longhorns joined the SEC in 2024, so this is their second year of conference play. Search interest in his name spiked for two reasons: the game itself and the buzz around ESPN’s new Saban docuseries.
His wife, Loreal, attended the premiere in Tuscaloosa on Thursday without him. According to Sports Illustrated, Sarkisian said she would go, while he stayed behind to finalize game-day preparations. “They’ve been great to us and our family for quite some time now,” he said of the Sabans.
The Saban Connection Behind the Texas Head Coach
The Sarkisians married in 2020, during his second stint at Alabama under Saban. That relationship runs deeper than a job listing. Per Sports Illustrated’s reporting, Saban hired him as an offensive analyst in 2016. USC had fired Sarkisian as head coach five games into the 2015 season, and he has spoken openly about struggling with alcoholism and painkiller addiction.
Loreal described that period in a behind-the-scenes video, as relayed by SI. The Sabans, she said, “have been so instrumental in our lives.” Sarkisian has put it more bluntly, telling ESPN in 2022 that he would not be Texas’s head coach without Saban. Saban, for his part, gave the credit back: “Sark is the one who did the work.”
One note on framing. SI’s headline calls it Loreal’s career low point. Her comments were actually about her husband’s. Small difference, but it matters.
What Is at Stake for Sarkisian in the Red River Rivalry
Texas is No. 1 in the AP poll for a fourth week, and it holds 61 first-place votes. It is also the sixth time in Red River history that the Longhorns have arrived as the top-ranked team. Meanwhile, Oklahoma opened the season ranked No. 10 and has since fallen out of the poll after losses to Georgia and Michigan. Our Red River Rivalry preview digs into how Arch Manning and the Longhorns match up with the struggling Sooners.
The Longhorns are chasing their third straight win in the series. They have not done that since 1997 through 1999. They won last year’s game 23-6, and Steve Sarkisian is 3-2 against the Sooners. Texas also leads the all-time series 65-51-5.
So the roles are flipped from what many expected. Oklahoma is the wounded underdog with nothing to lose, and Texas is the team everyone wants to knock off. As a result, this is less a coronation than a trap game with a famous name.
The Matchup and the Numbers
Oddsmakers still like Texas. According to News9’s reporting of DraftKings lines via ESPN, the Longhorns are 7.5-point favorites after opening at 6. The over/under sits at 41.5, down from 48.5. Lines move quickly, and other books list slightly different totals.
Oklahoma’s offense is the reason that total keeps shrinking. It ranks 120th nationally at 321 yards per game. By contrast, the Sooners’ defense is the part Sarkisian keeps flagging. His three priorities this week, per KXAN, were maintaining focus, establishing the run against a formidable defense, and respecting the rivalry.
The respect part is not an accident. Texas already survived a late Tennessee rally in a 20-17 win this season. Sarkisian also reminded reporters his own team has been here before. “We were a desperate football team and found a way to win in the second half,” he said, per the AP.
Not everyone in the Big 12 footprint is impressed, either. Texas Tech has challenged Texas after Sark’s soft-schedule jab, so the Longhorns have plenty of motivation to prove it on the field.
Here’s the Thing
If you are asking about Steve Sarkisian today, you are really asking whether Texas is for real. A No. 1 ranking is nice. Beating Oklahoma in Dallas, in an SEC game, with a first-year defensive coordinator in Will Muschamp, is proof.
There is also a quieter story. Sarkisian’s career nearly ended a decade ago, and the man who helped rescue it is the subject of the biggest sports documentary on TV this week. That is quite the backdrop for a Saturday in the Cotton Bowl.
As of the last check, the game was still in progress and there was no final score. The next real test comes Sunday, when the Week 7 AP poll shows what a Red River result does to the top of the rankings.
