Texas and Notre Dame’s scheduled football series is staying put, and Steve Sarkisian says the reason is simple: the playoff picture looks more forgiving than it did a year ago.
Sarkisian said Thursday the Longhorns will go ahead with their home-and-home against the Fighting Irish in 2028 and 2029, pointing to the likelihood of a 24-team College Football Playoff starting in 2027.
The two games are currently set for Sept. 9, 2028, in South Bend, Ind., and Sept. 22, 2029, in Austin.
The possibility of scrapping the series came into focus after the 2025 regular season, when Texas finished 9-3 and still appeared headed for the outside of the CFP picture, even with three wins over Top 10 teams: then-No. 6 Oklahoma, then-No.
9 Vanderbilt and then-No. 3 Texas A&M.
The Longhorns also dropped SEC games at unranked Florida and at then-No. 5 Georgia, while a 14-7 loss at then-No. 3 Ohio State turned into a major point of debate.
Sarkisian didn’t hide his frustration when he discussed that schedule last December on SiriusXM’s Full Ride.
"Why do we even play that game [at Ohio State]?" Sarkisian said on SiriusXM's Full Ride last December.
"Because if we're a 10-2 team right now that played four top-10 ranked opponents with three top-10 wins, we're not even having a discussion right now. So, my point is: Why the hell am I going to play that game [against Ohio State] next year?
For what? What good does it do?"
At the SEC Spring Meetings, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte was cautious when asked about Notre Dame.
"They're tentatively on the schedule right now," Del Conte said.
Sarkisian was still noncommittal in July at SEC Media Days, saying the program wanted to see how the committee valued scheduling before making a final call.
"I don't know yet about Notre Dame. We'll see, because I think the [CFP] committee's got to show us what happens now and what's the value that they're placing on strength of schedule. And are we ever going to let a nine-and-three team in as an at-large?"
By Thursday, though, Sarkisian sounded much more comfortable with the direction of things, especially if the expanded playoff is on the way.
"What I like most about it, without having really dug into it, honestly, is that we get to keep those non-conference games that I think we all really like - I know we do internally. I know our fans do. I know it's good for college football, and so the idea that we're playing Michigan next year, and we've got Notre Dame the next two years after that, I'm excited that we get to keep those things."
A Texas source close to the situation also confirmed to Horns247 that the plan is to keep Notre Dame on the Longhorns’ schedule in 2028 and 2029.
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