Steve Sarkisian Reacts To Huge Upset Win Over USC Trojans
September 22, 2009 – 5:45 am by Michael Bean
Heading in to Week 3 of the 2009 college football season, the story of the week – at least out on the West Coast – was the match-up between Southern Cal and Washington. The game pitted Pete Carroll with former offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who was hired at the end of last year to revive the floundering Huskies program. Considering Washington failed to win a single game last year, not many thought they’d pull the upset over the mighty Trojans, but a solid showing against LSU in their opener and a win in week two against Idaho had some believing that the Huskies could at least hang with the Trojans. Well, they did more than just hang with USC. They stunned Pete Carroll’s #3 ranked squad 16-13 behind timely play from star quarterback Jake Locker and an opportunistic, swarming defense that turned over the mistake-prone Trojans offense three times. Coach Sarkisian joined KJR in Seattle to talk about the monumentally huge win, what it means for the Huskies program, what his relationship with former mentor and boss Pete Carroll is like and how his team must stay focused and not avoid a letdown when they travel this coming Saturday to take on Stanford in Palo Alto.
On just how much media attention and how many questions he’s had to deal with personally since the big win
“Quite a few, and a lot of them are the same. They’re very similar, but it’s great. It’s great for our program, the exposure’s great and hopefully we can take this win, and learn from it, and then build on from it.”
On what it was like after the game talking to his team – many of whom had to deal with all the adversity of last year’s winless season:
“Well, there was so much elation. And not just from our players. From everybody involved in this thing. From the athletic department, to our coaches, the players, to the fans. I think for me, finally getting in to the locker room and getting a chance to get my bearings. You know, I told the guys to settle down – there was so much pandemonium going on – just settle down and then we’ll talk here in a couple minutes. By the time I went to talk, to see the look in those kids’ eyes; the entire team was back up in that locker room. To see the look in their eyes – you could feel their joy just in the look in their eyes. And for me that was a huge moment because they deserve it. These kids came to the University of Washington to win football games. They came here to compete against the best teams in the country and they got that opportunity Saturday night and they’ve gotten that opportunity in the first three weeks of the season. And hopefully they continue to get that opportunity.”
On keeping his team focused after his kids finally get a taste of some major success for the first time in many of their careers:
“It really is, and I feel like for me in going through is, even going through the locker room that night, I have to continue to coach them on how to even deal with this win, in that yeah, it’s a great win but we need to remain humble, we need to be smart with our decisions to night, you know, as they go to celebrate; how to refocus on another opponent because I have to remind myself that these kids haven’t dealt with big wins before of this magnitude. And so what it takes to get yourself re-focused so we don’t lose sight of you know, we got to play Stanford this Saturday for first place in our conference. And this is where we’re supposed to be so get comfortable in this environment and this is how you deal with it.”
Listen here to Sarkisian on KJR in Seattle
Tags: BCS standings, Jake Locker, KJR, Pac 10 Football, Pete Carroll former assistants, Steve Sarkisian, Washington upsets USC
