The top-ranked Longhorns are on the road at No. 14 Tennessee to begin conference play.
The top-ranked Texas Longhorns travel to Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on Saturday to face No. 14 Tennessee in both teams' first SEC game of the season.
Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian opened his game-week press conference by acknowledging the challenge of playing in arguably the deepest conference in college football.
"In this conference, I've said it time and time again, from top to bottom, anybody can beat anybody," Sarkisian said. "I think that's the challenge of our conference: being mentally and physically prepared to play week in and week out. And for us this week, it's no different."
Volunteers hosting Longhorns in 'loudest stadium in the country'
Sarkisian lauded Tennessee's home-field advantage ahead of the 11 a.m. CT kickoff this Saturday.
"We're going into what I would probably consider is the loudest stadium in the country, Neyland Stadium," Sark said.
Texas is 2-1 all-time against their fellow orange-laden UT, but Saturday will be the teams' first-ever meeting in Knoxville.
While the Volunteers have become known for explosive downfield shots under Josh Heupel, Sarkisian noted that the true freshman quarterback, Faizon Brandon, and Tennessee's rushing attack, led by Desean Bishop and Duane Morris, pose a unique obstacle for Texas.
The backfield pair rushed for 158 of Tennessee's 268 yards rushing in last week's 42-9 win over Kennesaw State.
"Gotta be able to play both," Sarkisian said about defending the Vols' offense. "And gotta play against the tempo and how fast they go.
"We've got a heck of a challenge going into a hostile environment."
When it comes to road games under Sarkisian, the Longhorns ran into troubles early in the coach's tenure. Texas was just 3-6 in true road games in Sarkisian's first two seasons, but since then, the Longhorns are 11-3 away from Austin.
Sarkisian mentioned specifically how his program has the most wins in SEC play since Texas joined the conference just over two years ago.
"So, I'm very confident in our ability to go on the road and play well," he said.
'We're a team that is very well connected.'
In order to have that success on the road - this weekend and beyond - the communication through all three phases must be sharp. Sarkisian has pointed out that, while the Horns are 3-0 with impressive performances, he is still trying to figure out exactly who and what this team is.
"We're a team that is very well connected. I think that plays well with one another, that takes pride in our conditioning," said Sarkisian. "[The players] believe in the adjustments that the coaches are making, and they go execute and they continue to play together. That's very encouraging.
"We're going to continue to find out more as the season unfolds itself to us. Then we got more challenges ahead of us. Obviously this weekend it starts with Tennessee."
