Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is having none of this easy SEC schedule talk for the fall.

He knows better.

To hear SEC Network football analyst Roman Harper describe Texas’ schedule, it’s a foregone conclusion the Longhorns’ debut in the new league will be silky smooth.

An SEC takeover is imminent, right?

Uh, slow down.

During Sunday’s SEC Celebration on campus, the longtime NFL player went over Texas’ upcoming opponents with Sarkisian as 30,000 fans on the South Mall leaned in to not miss a word.

“I’m looking at your schedule and you guys should beat everybody,” Harper said, drawing smiles from those in attendance and in a few hundred thousand burnt orange living rooms. “I see three games …”

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Sarkisian was having none of it. “Easy, easy,” he said with a smile.

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It brought to mind Mack Brown’s reaction after the 2005 Rose Bowl win over Michigan. Offensive MVP Vince Young was basking in the glow of victory alongside Mack and defensive MVP Michael Huff on the stage in Pasadena when Young made a bold proclamation.

“Yes, sir, we’ll be baaack,” Young said as the Texas fans roared.

Brown smiled, but inside he was thinking like any other coach.

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“I thought, “Come on, Vince,” Brown said in the terrific 2021 documentary "05." “Don’t be talking about we’ll be back already. You’ve got a lot of work to do.”

No one needs to be reminded that Young led the Horns back to the Rose Bowl the following season to complete an epic two-year run with a BCS national title win over USC.

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As far as 2024 is concerned, the Horns could make a case of returning to the College Football Playoff semifinals, but Sarkisian is smart enough to not fall for the poison cheese, to steal a line from legendary coach Bill Parcells, who warned Brown before the 2005 road game against 5-5 Texas A&M that the Longhorns had the look of a group that was fat, happy and poised to get upset.

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Brown, ever the motivator, ordered longtime equipment manager Chip Robertson to hang strings of cheese cubes at each player’s locker the week of the game with a printout of Parcells’ comment attached.

Texas avoided the upset bid and the rest is history.

Sark has a point about this schedule. It’s not the toughest in the league, but the Horns do get Michigan on the road in Week 2 and later, consecutive games against Oklahoma and Georgia. The preseason No. 1 Bulldogs will roll into Austin coming off a bye week. And let’s not forget the College Station visit on Thanksgiving weekend.

Sarkisian understands the danger of losing focus and hunger. The one thing he has in his favor is the Horns should be starving for a breakthrough after taking a sizable jump with a 34-24 win at Alabama, a Big 12 title on their way out the door and a final-four finish that came oh so close to being a bowl game rematch with Michigan in the title game, 20 seasons after that Pasadena shootout.

“Complacency is the devil right now,” he said. “We have got to stay driven, and we’ve got to stay focused and we need to understand, hey, when we walk out of that tunnel with that helmet on, we’re the target. There’s no more, ‘We’re the hunted.’ Well, we’ve got to go hunt week in and week out as well.”

Ewers told reporters at the Manning Passing Academy that he has replayed those final seconds against Washington in his mind quite a few times over the offseason. Wideout Adonai Mitchell had a sliver of daylight in the right corner of the end zone, and it wasn’t an easy throw given what was on the line, but it was one Ewers had made many times before.

Not one to waste words, Ewers was economical when discussing the impact of that play.

“Eleven yards,” he said.

We’re months away from any CFP talk, but Sarkisian knows this gantlet will test his team’s will, particularly in those games that aren’t marquee but are still, well, against SEC opponents.

“That’s the challenge, that level of consistency that is needed,” he said Sunday. “Not having to just get up for a game or two. It’s about playing a brand and a style of football consistently and that starts in the offseason.”

Who knows, maybe the Horns can repeat history like they did in 1996 when they won the final Southwest Conference title then captured the first Big 12 championship a year later.

The league opener against Mississippi State isn’t until Sept. 28 but, in a sense, the SEC season started long ago. Championships aren’t won in the fall but in the work a team puts in during the dog days of summer when nobody is watching.

LHN still lives in some form

Nice move, UT: Kudos to Texas for unveiling its new reimagined Longhorn Network app. Legendary athletic director and external communications expert Chris Plonsky told me months ago while I was working on a piece about the history of LHN that this was in the making, and it’s a brilliant idea to preserve some of the best sports history out there.

And you thought we’d never again see a replay of the Texas-USC classic.

While there won’t be any more live games on LHN, my hope is to still get commentary from Longhorn legends like Keith Moreland, Greg Swindell, Michael Griffin and Andrea Lloyd, even if it’s via Zoom. Those personalities made it fun because they were not only knowledgeable, but they had the passion for the programs they once represented.

Bronny James got the hookup from dear old dad

Like father ...: Don’t confuse LeBron James handing his son an NBA career with head coaches who have done the same with their sons for who knows how long.

Sure, NBA coaches J.B. Bickerstaff, Stephen Silas, Michael Malone, Ryan Saunders and Eric Musselman all benefited from having fathers who worked as head coaches and that’s been a problem for some time — it’s even worse in the NFL — but this hits different because Bronny James doesn’t really project as an NBA player.

After the Lakers hired LeBron’s podcast partner J.J. Redick as their head coach, they not only made 19-year-old LeBron James Jr. the 55th overall pick, but rewarded him — it’s the best way to put it because he didn’t earn it — with a four-year, $7.9 million contract that’s fully guaranteed, unheard of money for a pick in that range.

Then Daddy, who hinted in the offseason that he might take less money to help GM Rob Pelinka bring in some needed pieces to win now in the powerful Western Conference, took the maximum extension, a two-year, $104 million deal. He'll be 40 at the start of next season.

Never underestimate the power of a league legend and future billionaire who literally handed his son a career. At least we know who runs the Lakers now.

This kind of stuff happens every day in corporate America, but I do miss the days when sports was a meritocracy when it came to players. Now we’re getting $8 million hookups from dear old Dad so he can fulfill some selfish ego-driven dream to play ball with his kid.

How about the backyard, LeBron? At least Bronny might get off a shot there. You’d surely allow it.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian laughs off easy SEC path to title