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    • Steve Sarkisian’s Texas is now a bully as Michigan languishes
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    Steve Sarkisian’s Texas is now a bully as Michigan languishes

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    • Steve Sarkisian changed the culture of Texas football, one callous group at a time.
    • Texas Longhorns used to be all sizzle, no steak. Now they have Grade A beef.
    • NCAA researchers will discover that Michigan’s football team is a shadow of its former self under Jim Harbaugh.

    ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Jaydon Blue’s calluses remind him of the work it takes to strengthen that skin.

    You don’t get calluses by soaking your hands in baby oil. Like any day laborer, these Texas Longhorns get their calluses by sweating hard.

    Blue would know. Texas’ junior running back played for coach Steve Sarkisian long enough to understand what it took to make this program stronger.

    “We were training in 100-plus-degree temperatures. We were probably training in the winter in 90, 100-degree temperatures. It builds up calluses,” Blue said Saturday after contributing to No. 3 Texas’ 143-yard rushing output in a 31-12 demolition of No. 9 Michigan. “We emphasize toughness.”

    What an evolution for Texas (2-0).

    Texas football now has cattle by the cap too

    In the past, when situations called for toughness, the Longhorns withered. For too long, Texas waded through mediocrity while boasting blue-star talent and two-star toughness.

    College football fans laughed at an underperforming program that was all about money.

    All sizzle, no steak.

    Not anymore.

    Today, Texas is home to Grade A beef.

    Sarkisian, in his fourth season, leads a versatile program with no apparent flaws.

    “We didn’t really plan on coming here to prove anything,” Sarkisian said nonchalantly, after watching his team push Michigan through four quarters. “We wanted to play our brand, our style of football.”

    OPINION: Texas Football, Quinn Ewers Gives Karma a Day Off as He Crushes Michigan Wolverines

    TEXAS VS MICHIGAN: Showdown turns into beatdown as Longhorns outplay reigning champions

    VIEW FROM MICHIGAN: Wolverines’ CFP hangover is gone, and it’s time for Wolverines to sober up

    The loss in the Big House reminded us what Sarkisian’s version of Texas football looks like.

    The Longhorns have speed. They have playmakers. They have sure-handed tacklers. They have a quarterback with big arms and a cool head.

    And yes, they are tough. Much tougher than Michigan on this day.

    Michigan won a national championship with a stingy defense, a tough offensive line and a coach who wore pleated khakis to work. Jim Harbaugh’s dad pants fit the bill for a program built on a hard hat, toolbox mentality. Harbaugh left for the NFL in January. A slew of talent followed him to the pros.

    Michigan failed to adequately compensate for the loss of the national team, while the NCAA’s toothless investigators struggled to conduct their investigations.

    What will those reckless NCAA suits think? Well, for starters, a team that is a shadow of its former self.

    Texas defeated the reigning champions in a big way.

    “When the going gets tough, we can be at our best,” Blue said.

    Years after infamous bus ride, Steve Sarkisian bullies Michigan in Texas

    Things got tough for Texas in the preseason, when a couple of running backs suffered season-ending injuries, including CJ Baxter, the expected bell cow.

    But Texas got back four veteran starting offensive linemen, and those guys create running lanes wide enough for a Longhorns fan in cowboy boots to run through the hole.

    As Texas reached the red zone on its second touchdown drive, freshman tailback Jerrick Gibson and his veteran O-line provided the final 20 yards. Gibson followed a procession of Texas blockers to run 7 yards untouched into the end zone to cap a 76-yard scoring drive.

    “For a young runner,” Sarkisian said, “there’s nothing more fun than running with the ball when you don’t see color in your face.”

    Gibson had two colors in mind: the white Texas shirts of the men who paved his path and the open green grass.

    Texas’ starting offensive line is exclusively juniors and seniors. These linemen range from 6-foot-3 to 6-5 and weigh between 315 and 335 pounds.

    They’re gone graders. They kept quarterback Quinn Ewers clean while they took Michigan apart. They made their running backs’ jobs easy.

    Jake Majors, the senior center, waved it off.

    “That’s what we do,” he said. “It’s the new standard. We score touchdowns.”

    Majors stepped in for the full Sarkisian experience. He started in Texas’ infamous 30-7 loss to Iowa State in 2021. The Cyclones outgained Texas by 269 yards that day. Texas allowed four sacks.

    During the bus ride afterward, assistant coach Bo Davis launched into a tirade of profanities.

    “You think this is a (fucking) joke?!” Davis said, along with many more stabs in the ass.

    And no, Davis didn’t use the words gosh-darn. A little more colorful than that.

    Sarkisian supported Davis after video of his outburst leaked online. Davis left the Texas staff after last season for LSU.

    Sarkisian had now changed the culture, one insensitive change at a time.

    Blake Toppmeyer is the national college football columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

    Subscribe to read all his columns. Also check out his podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, and newsletter, SEC Unfiltered.

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