Coaches cannibalize coaches.
They seek edges in preparation and planning in any possible element.
For Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, he pointed to the misfortunes of Marcus Freeman's Notre Dame program Monday when he addressed the Longhorns.
Notre Dame had climbed to No. 5 in both major national polls after it won last week at Texas A&M but crashed back to earth Saturday in a galling, 16-14 home loss to MAC resident Northern Illinois.
Texas is coming off a statement win in its 30-12 domination of defending College Football Playoff champion Michigan inside the Big House.
"Twofold, I think one is we try to hold ourselves to our standard," Sarkisian told reporters. "We have a saying around here, 'The standard is the standard.' A jersey, a helmet, a stadium doesn't dictate how we prepare.
"We dictate how we prepare. I think that's the first part."
But ...
"But the second part is human nature is human nature," said Sarkisian, whose squad climbed to No. 2 this week after the win at Michigan. "So what did I do this morning? I walked them through the Notre Dame scenario of them going into College Station a week ago and winning that game and being anointed a top-five team and going to the College Football Playoff and a week later losing to Northern Illinois. So I showed that clip of the field goal, and I showed that clip of Northern Illinois storming the field this morning as a good reminder.
"We are entitled to nothing. We're capable of anything; we've got a really good team. But we're entitled nothing and we're going to earn everything we get. We're going to have to earn the victory here Saturday night."
The Horns host a UTSA squad coming off a blowout-loss at rival Texas State.
Freeman's Fighting Irish go on the road for the 100-mile trip to play at Purdue.