Steve Sarkisian breaks silence on snubbing Holly Rowe, Arch Manning's reaction to AI video

Texas has had an eventful week, riding the highs of taking down Ohio State on Saturday night to dealing with a handful of controversies in the aftermath.

Both head coach and Steve Sarkisian and Arch Manning were in hot water for incidents involving ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe, as Sarkisian blew her off in the postgame interview while Manning admitted to laughing at an AI video of Sarkisian slapping Rowe. Manning already apologized for his side of the controversy, and now Sarkisian released a statement addressing his role in it as well.

Sarkisian statement addressed both his and Manning's decisions over the last week, which clouded Texas' huge victory on Saturday night. The Longhorns head coach is now the coach of the top-ranked team in the country, putting even more scrutiny on the program.

Here's what Sarkisian had to say.

MORE: Arch Manning apologizes after Steve Sarkisian-Holly Rowe AI video controversy

Steve Sarkisian statement on ESPN, Holly Rowe

Sarkisian released a lengthy statement about his decision postgame after defeating Ohio State to forego an interview with ESPN's Holly Rowe.

Sarkisian detailed his side of ESPN's technical difficulties at halftime, when he chose to go back to the locker room instead of waiting for the difficulties to be fixed for an interview with Laura Rutledge. Sarkisian then said after the game, there was a smaller delay with Rowe and he was too impatient when deciding to go and be with his team.

"If hindsight's 20/20, if I could do it all over again, I would have exuded more patience in that moment and and and sat through and waited for the interview with Holly," Sarkisian said. "Obviously, we have a ton of respect for ESPN and Holly. Holly and I go way back to even to my days of playing at BYU, and we've got a great relationship. ESPN is a great partner of ours."

The Longhorns' 21-point comeback was perhaps the biggest program win in the Sarkisian era, and the coach acknowledges his desire to celebrate the win with his players took over in that moment. Sarkisian also mentioned his respect for Rose in particular, and he looks forward to working with ESPN in future games.

Sarkisian then addressed the controversy surrounding Arch Manning, as the quarterback admitted to laughing at an AI video of Sarkisian slapping Rowe instead of walking away.

"Obviously Arch recognizes he made a mistake, and it's an unfortunate one. Nowhere do we condone domestic violence or violence against women. Nothing in our program says that nor Arch individually," Sarkisian said. "I think if he could take it back, he would. But he has since apologized to Holly. He's made a public apology, and you know our goal is that we can move forward and him be the guy that that we all know that he is and what he represents."

This statement followed that of Manning, who apologized for his decision early in the week.

"It's easy to say I didn't mean it, but I know my words and actions were hurtful to a lot of people," Manning said. "I do not take that lightly and am deeply sorry for that."

As the current No. 1 team in the country, Texas will surely have ESPN's top team call its games again some point during this season.