Steve Sarkisian Disputes That Texas Has Underachieved. Can It Still Make CFP?

Don’t tell Steve Sarkisian, if you are a Texas fan that the Longhorns underachieved in this season. When asked Monday why his 7-3 Longhorns team has not performed well this year, the Texas head coach disagreed.”According to whom?” Sarkisian said. When the reporter stated that Texas was voted number one, Sarkisian said. Sarkisian defended his team after the AP Poll preseason poll ranked them No. “I’m guessing that was whoever voted our No. 1,” Sarkisian replied. “I believe that his team gave it their all. They’ve been faced with a lot of different adversity and injuries, and a lot of stuff has come across this team’s plate. And I’m very, very proud of them with their resiliency. “At the end of the day, at the University of Texas, we’re held to a very high standard, and the standard is to compete for championships year in and year out. We’re going to play the best teams in the country. We’re going to schedule the best teams in the country. By the end of the regular season, five of the 12 teams we play will be in the top 10 when they played us, which is nearly half of the schedule.”Texas has not had a great year for a championship-aspiring team. Georgia beat Texas 35-10 in Saturday’s game, a game considered a possible must-win for Texas to have any chance of making it into the playoffs. However, some also believe that Texas could possibly play itself into the CFP if it is able to take down Texas A&M in its regular-season finale. Sarkisian also seems to believe that this should be the case. “We have an opportunity at the end of the regular season to do something that nobody’s done since 2019 and that’s beat three top-10 ranked teams in the regular season,” Sarkisian told reporters on Monday. The last team that did it was LSU, with Joe Burrow. Were we facing a difficult schedule? Were we faced with high standards? Sure, but that’s why we came here. So we’ll be OK.”Texas A&M, who was ranked third in the most recent CFP Poll, seems likely to be undefeated when Texas plays the Aggies to close out the regular season. Texas A&M takes on Samford this weekend, while Texas hosts Arkansas. So, if Texas is able to beat Texas A&M, it would almost certainly give its in-state rival its first loss of the season. Sarkisian also mentioned that it would be Texas’ third win this season over a top-10 squad, having beaten other CFP hopefuls Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt, earlier in the season. Texas also has some less than impressive results. Texas, despite giving No. Its other loss was to a Florida squad with a record of 3-7. Three of its wins have also come against non-power conference schools, and two of its wins were overtime victories over Kentucky and Mississippi State — who have a combined three wins in SEC play this season.That begs the question, should Texas make the CFP at 9-3, even if it does beat Texas A&M? Joel Klatt, FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst, doesn’t agree. “I know that I was setting it up. Klatt, on his podcast “The Joel Klatt Show”, said that the committee had set up the playoff rankings over the past couple of weeks to determine whether Texas would make the CFP with a 9-3 record. But here’s the deal, when you’re beaten 35-10, it’s another story. You have to watch the games and see how they are played. It’s clear that Texas is in this situation. Their résumé is not great.”Even though they finished 9-3 is that good enough for them to get in?” Klatt continued, “Probably no after the Georgia loss.” “35-10 is a tough loss to recover from.” Will Texas be expelled from the CFP following a third defeat? Since we are only in our second year with the 12-team College Football We’re still learning about what it takes to qualify for the playoffs. As an at large, there was no three-loss CFP team last year. Klatt actually compared the Longhorns to the Alabama team of last year, which was just a few points away from the CFP.  “These résumés are eerily similar,” Klatt said. The Alabama team of last year also finished with a 9-3 record. Both teams had impressive wins. Last year, Bama had a huge win over Georgia. This year, Texas has a huge win over OU. Both teams had road losses that were respectable. Bama had a road win at Tennessee last year. This year, Texas suffered a respectable loss on the road at Ohio State. Last year, Alabama lost a road game against Vandy in an unexpected upset. This year’s Texas squad lost at Florida. They both suffered a big loss on the road in the SEC late in the year. Bama lost badly to Oklahoma late last season. Texas has now been badly beaten this year by Georgia. “Those are identical résumés.Klatt did leave room for chaos to strike over the next two weeks, and Texas could climb its way back up into the top 10. He disagrees that Texas should receive extra grace because it is playing at Ohio State for a non conference game after a rout by Georgia. Klatt stated, “I don’t see the push to reward Michigan because they scheduled Oklahoma as I do for Texas because they scheduled Ohio State.” Let’s play the game. If you want to play it and everyone gets a bump, go ahead. But we cannot be selective about who gets to be credited for scheduling which non-conference games in what locations because Texas or Michigan would both be in the same boat if it came up. Want the best stories sent straight to your inbox every day? Follow leagues, players, and teams to receive daily personalized emails!
2025-11-18 01:30:48