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President Donald Trump's anticipated presence at Saturday's Texas-Tennessee matchup has heightened attention on one of college football's marquee contests, yet Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian insists his squad is no stranger to the limelight. In a Thursday interview on the Longhorn Network, Sarkisian discussed Trump's planned visit, occurring less than 48 hours before top-ranked Texas heads to Knoxville to face Tennessee in its SEC opener at Neyland Stadium.
Trump is set to attend the game, which will also feature ESPN's "College GameDay" broadcasting from Knoxville, marking Texas' first true road test of the season. Sarkisian mentioned he hasn't discussed the额外的 attention with his players. "I haven't even talked to them about it," Sarkisian said. "Because I feel like that's the norm here now. Like, this is what we've grown to be accustomed to." He noted that such scrutiny is part of being a highly ranked team. "When you're really good, and when you're ranked where we're ranked, that kind of comes with the territory," Sarkisian said. "I think what we do is we focus on what we can control."
While Sarkisian expressed no concern about the added spotlight from Trump's visit, he did reveal that his staff has prepared for potential communication disruptions. He explained that stadium communications can be temporarily interrupted when the president moves within the venue, which could impact coaches' headsets and coach-to-player systems. "They cut headsets to coaches, they cut headsets to coach-to-player communications," Sarkisian said. "So you have to plan for that if, and/or when, and you get no warning."
Sarkisian cited January's College Football Playoff national championship as an example, claiming that Miami coach Mario Cristobal informed him his team lost communications on its final drive as Trump exited the stadium. However, the White House pushed back on that assertion Friday. "No, President Trump's departure from the CFP championship in January did not cause headset or comms issues for the teams," the White House's Rapid Response 47 account posted on X.
Front Office Sports reported that the White House did not respond to a follow-up inquiry about whether it also disputed claims that Secret Service security protocols can affect coach-to-player communications when the president moves through a stadium. The U.S. Secret Service also did not immediately respond to Front Office Sports' request for comment.
Regardless of Saturday's events, Sarkisian emphasized that Texas is focused on preparing for uncontrollable situations. "You get no warning, it just cuts out," Sarkisian said. "And so you've got to be prepared for that." He added that the atmosphere at Neyland Stadium—whether it involves "College GameDay," Trump's visit, or a sellout crowd—will not alter Texas' approach. "Whether it's GameDay or the president or God knows what fireworks or things that are going on there, their fans being in there two hours before the kick, really doesn't matter to what we do," Sarkisian said. "We gotta make sure we can control what we can control. That's our preparation, so we can play our best football when this thing gets kicked off."
Texas and Tennessee are scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. Central (noon Eastern) Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
Originally reported by yahoo.