As we head into conference championship weekend, the No. 16 Texas Longhorns find themselves in a frustrating position-on the outside looking in at the 12-team College Football Playoff picture. And that’s despite a résumé that includes three wins over top-10 opponents, something no team has done in the regular season since LSU’s title run in 2019.
So why aren’t the Longhorns in stronger playoff contention? Two losses are doing the heavy lifting here.
One was a tough road stumble against Florida to open SEC play. The other?
A marquee season-opener against No. 1 Ohio State in Columbus that didn’t go Texas’ way.
That second loss, in particular, is starting to loom large-not just in the playoff rankings, but in the way head coach Steve Sarkisian is thinking about how Texas schedules its future opponents.
With the SEC moving to a nine-game conference schedule starting next year, Sarkisian is already weighing the impact of playing such a brutal slate. On Monday, during an appearance on SEC This Morning, he didn’t mince words when asked if Texas would rethink its non-conference scheduling philosophy.
“I think we have to,” Sarkisian said. “At the end of the day, now we’re going to nine conference games.
We’ve got to be mindful of the fact that we’ve played five top-ten ranked teams. The next closest team that’s ranked ahead of us has played two.
There’s multiple teams in front of us that have played none. At that point, if we’re just staring at a record, we’ve got to put ourselves in a better position to get a better record.”
That’s a pretty clear message-and it highlights the growing tension between playing marquee matchups and maintaining a clean enough record to impress the selection committee. If the committee continues to prioritize win-loss records over strength of schedule, it could discourage programs from scheduling heavyweight non-conference games altogether. And that could mean fewer showdowns like Texas-Ohio State in the future.
“All I care about is that we’re trying to put the best teams in and not get caught up in the record,” Sarkisian added. “Ultimately, if we just keep staring at the record, then all we’re going to try to do is get a good record.
I don’t think that’s what we want in college football. We want teams competing against the best teams.
That’s what makes our sport great. That’s why the SEC is such an awesome conference, because of the quality of teams in this league top-to-bottom.”
Sarkisian’s point is hard to argue. The SEC is already a gauntlet, and with the addition of a ninth conference game, it’s only going to get tougher.
For Texas, that means swapping out some of the so-called “buy games” against lesser opponents for another SEC slugfest. And with home games against Ohio State and Michigan still on the books for the next two seasons, the Longhorns’ schedule isn’t getting any lighter.
Then there’s the looming home-and-home series with Notre Dame in 2028 and 2029. That’s a dream matchup from a fan’s perspective, but it could be in jeopardy if Sarkisian and athletic director Chris Del Conte determine it’s not in the program’s best interest. And if Notre Dame sees it the same way-especially if playoff positioning is at stake-it wouldn’t be surprising to see both sides mutually walk away.
Looking even further ahead, Texas has lighter slates in 2030 and 2031, with just one game scheduled each year against in-state UT system schools before a home-and-home with Arizona State. That’s the kind of matchup that could become the new norm for non-conference scheduling-solid, but not seismic.
And that’s the bigger picture here. If teams like Texas start pulling back from high-profile non-conference games to protect their playoff hopes, the sport could lose some of its most anticipated matchups. The ripple effect of this year’s playoff decisions could stretch far beyond December, reshaping how programs approach scheduling for years to come.
For fans, that’s a tough pill to swallow. We want to see the best play the best.
That’s part of what makes college football special. But until the system rewards teams for taking on those challenges instead of penalizing them for it, coaches like Sarkisian will be forced to make tough calls-not just for the sake of competition, but for survival in the playoff race.