Ire of Texas: Sark sorry for skipping out on song
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian opened his Monday news conference following the Longhorns’ 41-34 loss to Oklahoma State by apologizing for not singing “The Eyes of Texas,” the school song, before leaving the field.
“As you know, I owe an apology to Longhorn Nation,” Sarkisian said. “I made a mistake at the end of the game in not singing ‘The Eyes of Texas’ when the game was done. That was not anything intentional. That was not anything that had to do with our players. I think our players just followed me up the ramp into the locker room, obviously upset by the way the game ended.”
The song has been the subject of a controversy over the past few years as the school has reckoned with its origins in a minstrel show sung by performers in blackface. Former head coach Tom Herman was criticized for letting players choose whether they wanted to sing it or not.
At Sarkisian’s introductory news conference in January 2021, he made a strong statement that it will not be a question going forward.
“I know this much, ‘The Eyes of Texas’ is our school song,” he said. “We’re going to sing that song. We’re going to sing that proudly.”
But on Saturday, after the loss, only a few players remained on the field in Stillwater for the song.
Sarkisian said. “I apologize to everybody for that. That’ll never happen again. But again, it was not intentional. It was not premeditated by any means. That was just a mistake on my part. Nothing to do with the players. They had followed my lead on that. So that won’t happen again.”
Sarkisian addressed the Longhorns’ loss to the Cowboys, in which they had 14 penalties, their most since 2015, and lost a 14-point lead they had in the second quarter. It was Sarkisian’s fifth loss in which the Longhorns blew a double-digit lead since he was hired in 2021, the most in the FBS in that span. It was also the Longhorns’ fifth straight road loss, their second-longest road losing streak in the past 80 years.
Sarkisian said he still sees improvement and is not concerned about the trend.
“It’s easy to look at the record,” said Sarkisian, who is 10-10 with Texas. “We’ve come a long way as a program. I feel very good about where we’ve come. I love our style of play. I think we play hard, we play tough. Like a lot of programs, I think we’re a work in progress. You know, a couple balls bounce a certain way and our record is different. I wouldn’t change how I feel about our program and the direction that we’re going in.”
And he addressed Saturday’s struggles by quarterback Quinn Ewers, who went 19-of-49 for 319 yards, with two touchdowns to three interceptions. His 15 overthrows were the most in the FBS in the past three seasons.
“Would I have liked more precision in the passing game, does some of that responsibility fall on him? Yes,” Sarkisian said. “Some of that responsibility falls on me. Some of it falls on the receivers, some that falls on the O-line, the running backs, everybody has to assume their own responsibility in that. There’s definitely room for growth.”
Sarkisian said he never seriously considered benching Ewers for Hudson Card.
“I think Quinn is wired the right way,” Sarkisian said. “I think he’ll be the first one to tell you he would love to play better than he did.”
Texas has a bye week before traveling to Kansas State on Nov. 5.
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Jeff Passan
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Jeff Passan
Senior MLB Insider
- ESPN MLB insider
Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” -
Jesse Rogers
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Jesse Rogers
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- Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.
Right-hander Justin Verlander and the San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a one-year, $15 million contract, sources told ESPN on Tuesday, continuing the future Hall of Famer’s career at age 42 in one of the pitcher-friendliest stadiums in baseball.
Verlander, entering his 20th major league season, is considered perhaps the best pitcher of his generation, with the most innings pitched, strikeouts and wins among active players. A three-time Cy Young Award winner, Verlander is coming off the worst season of his career and joins a Giants team likewise looking for better results than 2024. The deal is pending a physical.
Shoulder and neck injuries limited Verlander to 17 starts, and over his last seven he posted an 8.10 ERA. With a falling strikeout rate and climbing home run rate, Verlander began to show signs of aging after a career in which he seemed impervious to it.
After a dominant 13-year stretch with the Detroit Tigers, Verlander found a second life after joining the Houston Astros in 2017. He won Cy Youngs in 2019 and 2022 — and after the latter signed a two-year, $86.6 million contract with the New York Mets. Verlander spent 16 starts with the Mets before being traded back to the Astros in August 2023.
Over his career, Verlander is 262-147 with a 3.30 ERA over 3,415⅔ innings. He has struck out 3,416 batters, walked 952 and won a pair of World Series with the Astros.
Returning to Houston wasn’t an option for 2025. With Oracle Park a dream for pitchers, Verlander gravitated toward the Giants, whose rotation includes right-hander Logan Webb, left-handers Robbie Ray and Kyle Harrison, and a number of other options for the fifth spot, with right-hander Hayden Birdsong seen as the likeliest candidate.
The Giants had spent a month with limited action before signing Verlander. A month ago to the day, they agreed with shortstop Willy Adames on a seven-year, $182 million contract.
San Francisco, which hired former star catcher Buster Posey as its president of baseball operations in September, went 80-82 last season and finished in fourth place in the National League West, which is arguably the best division in baseball.
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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
Northern Illinois will join the Mountain West as a football-only member in 2026, the school and conference announced Tuesday.
“What a great opportunity for NIU Athletics as we expand our horizons, adapt to this new national model of college athletics and prepare to start a new chapter in the history of NIU Football,” NIU athletic director Sean T. Frazier said in a statement.
In addition to NIU, the Mountain West will include Air Force, Hawai’i, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State and Wyoming in 2026.
The move is another fallen domino in college sports’ ongoing conference realignment process that caught up to the Mountain West in the fall, when Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State announced they were leaving for the new-look Pac-12, which collapsed in 2023.
“We are excited about adding Northern Illinois football to the Mountain West,” commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement. “In evaluating NIU, the MW Board of Directors and Directors of Athletics carefully considered and were impressed by its history of football success and its commitment to academic excellence.”
It is unclear what conference NIU’s remaining sports will compete in once it moves to the Mountain West for football. The school said it will continue discussions with the Mid-American Conference — where it has participated since 1997 — but will also review opportunities in “several of the regionally based multi-sport conferences.”
The Mountain West also recently announced the additions of Grand Canyon and UC Davis for sports other than football (Grand Canyon does not have football; Davis will remain at the FCS level).
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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
Georgia added another potential playmaker to its receiving corps on Tuesday, as former Texas A&M standout Noah Thomas committed to play for the Bulldogs in 2025.
Thomas, who has one season of eligibility remaining, led the Aggies with 39 catches for 574 yards and eight touchdowns this past season.
On Sunday, the Bulldogs added former USC receiver/kick returner Zachariah Branch, who was the No. 9 overall player and No. 4 receiver in ESPN’s transfer portal rankings. He had 1,863 all-purpose yards with the Trojans in two seasons and returned two kickoffs for scores in 2023.
At 6-foot-6, Thomas gives the Bulldogs a much-needed target in the red zone, which they were lacking this past season. His best performance came in a 43-41 loss in four overtimes at Auburn on Nov. 23, with five catches for 124 yards with two scores. He had six receptions for 109 yards and one score in a 21-17 victory over Arkansas on Sept. 28.
Earlier Tuesday, receiver Dillon Bell announced that he’ll return to Georgia for one more season. The junior had 43 catches for 466 yards with four touchdowns in 2024.
The Bulldogs are expected to lose their top two receivers: Dominic Lovett, who has exhausted his eligibility, and Arian Smith, who announced he’s forgoing his senior season to enter the NFL draft. Receiver Anthony Evans III also entered the transfer portal.
The Bulldogs led all FBS teams with 36 receiver drops this season, according to ESPN Research.
Georgia also landed two safeties from the transfer portal on Tuesday: Miami’s Jaden Harris and UAB’s Adrian Maddox, who had committed to Florida on Sunday. Harris started 13 games for the Hurricanes this past season and had 40 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 1 interception.
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