The Longhorns are working on mental preparation for the grind of SEC play and beyond.

For the first time under Steve Sarkisian, the No. 2 Texas Longhorns head into the bye week undefeated, despite the struggles against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in last weekend’s SEC opener. Now, they have two weeks to not only plan for the coming opponents but to prepare themselves for the grind of SEC play and beyond.

“We’ve got a long way to go. You know, we’re not a third of the way through this season if we were trying to accomplish what we want to accomplish,” Sarkisian said Monday. “It’s a good win, a good first portion of the season, but more work to be done.”

This college football season is unprecedented in many ways, not only marking the first year of the new, larger Power Four conferences, but also the expanded College Football Playoffs. For Texas, their new conference home means a grind through what is considered the toughest conference in college football. If they achieve their goals in the conference, the grind doesn’t stop, with the end goal of playing the longest season in school history. It will be a test for players not just physically, but mentally as well.

“I’m as concerned as anybody for the duration of this season, the fact that we started a week earlier for training camp, the fact that we played our first game in August, and we’re hoping to play on January 20th. That’s a long haul for a student-athlete who’s going to school and the toll that it can take,” Sarkisian said. “I think that we need to keep it fresh for them, because I do think the mental intensity we have to have week in and week out is going to be really important.”

Mental preparation will be just as important as physical recovery, even if Texas does need the extra week to ensure they are healthy for pivotal matchups with the Oklahoma Sooners and Georgia Bulldogs. The Texas coaches challenged the players and gave them a directed mental model to take them through the mindsets needed to make the adjustments needed

“I told our guys [Monday] morning, ‘What is the what right? What am I trying to get better at? Why do the coaches want me to get better at it, and how are we going to do it?’” Sarkisian said Monday. “If we can give them those three things, then I think every player will accept it and go to work on those things for a few days so that when they come back next week, they’re ready to roll.”

As the bye week draws to a close and Texas turns its sights to the next challenge, the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma followed by Georgia, the need for mental and physical preparation has never been more evident.