Steve Sarkisian has already stacked up plenty of headline wins at Texas, but some of his best work in Austin hasn’t always gotten the loudest applause. The obvious showcase moments are there, yet a few victories have slipped a little further under the radar than they should have.
Start with Texas’ CFP win over Clemson, a game that looked like it might be a tight one before the Longhorns took control. Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik came back to Austin and put up big numbers, throwing for 336 yards and three touchdowns.
But Texas answered with Jaydon Blue, who ripped through Clemson’s defense for 146 rushing yards and two scores. His 77-yard touchdown run slammed the door on the Tigers and sent Texas on to Sarkisian’s first playoff win at the school.
Another game that deserves more shine came in October 2025, a month that swung wildly in both directions for Texas. The Longhorns opened it with a road loss to unranked Florida, a defeat that dropped them from No. 9 all the way out of the Top 25.
Then, near the end of the month, they nearly took another damaging hit in Starkville. Texas trailed 31-14 heading into the fourth quarter, but the offense caught fire and piled up 24 points in the final period to drag the game into overtime.
That’s where Sarkisian’s quarterback coaching showed up for backup Matthew Caldwell, who found Emmett Mosley for the go-ahead score. Texas still missed the CFP, but that comeback kept the season alive.
The 2024 win over Texas A&M belongs in the conversation too, even if it’s easy to overlook because of what came later. The Lone Star Showdown returned after 13 years, and the stakes were massive: the winner would move on to face Kirby Smart’s team in the SEC Championship.
Texas walked into Kyle Field and handled it. Quintrevion Wisner ran for 186 yards, Quinn Ewers hit Jaydon Blue for a touchdown, and the defense made Marcel Reed miserable all night.
The result was a 17-7 win that sent Texas to the conference title game in its first SEC season.
There was also a hard-nosed win over TCU that showed a different edge. Bijan Robinson powered Texas with 216 yards in a gritty victory over a stubborn Horned Frogs team, giving the Longhorns the kind of aggression many fans felt had been missing late in the Tom Herman era.
And as Texas’ Big 12 run was winding down, the Longhorns found another crucial escape against Kansas State. Texas let a 20-point lead slip away in the fourth quarter, but it regrouped in overtime.
Bert Auburn drilled a 42-yard field goal, and then Will Howard’s fourth-down incompletion sealed the win. That victory kept Texas atop the Big 12 title race, and the Longhorns would go on to win the conference championship over Oklahoma State.
In Other News...
Texas Just Lost A Blue Chip Commit Fans Thought Was Safe
Texas 2027 recruiting push took a hit when four-star safety Greedy James changed course after originally pledging to the Longhorns in December. The move came after weeks of speculation, and it is the kind of flip that can sting even when a class is still sitting near the top of the national board.
Even with James gone, Texas is not exactly scrambling to recover. The Longhorns still own a highly regarded 2027 group that remains among the best in the country and near the top of the SEC, which is why this one feels more like a warning sign than a collapse. But losing a blue-chip defender who had been viewed as part of the foundation is the sort of development that keeps a recruiting staff busy long after the headlines fade. [Read more 🡒]
Marcus Spears Jr. Just Gave Sean Miller A Huge Texas Moment
Texas basketball has spent the past few years searching for the kind of momentum that can steady a program through coaching turnover and uneven results, and Sean Miller just got a significant boost on the recruiting trail. Marcus Spears Jr., one of the more highly regarded frontcourt prospects in the country, has committed to the Longhorns, giving Texas another cornerstone piece as it tries to build a roster that can hold up in the SEC and eventually make noise in March.
Spears Jr. picked Texas over Arizona, Kentucky and LSU, a win that matters well beyond one signing. The Longhorns have already put together a strong recruiting class and added transfers, and this is the sort of addition that can change the way a roster looks in the seasons ahead, especially in a league where size and depth are never optional. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Fans Wont Believe What A Rival Coach Said About Sarkisian
Big 12 Media Days usually bring their share of sharp edges between in-state rivals, but Joey McGuire took a different tone when the conversation turned to Steve Sarkisian. The Texas Tech coach made it clear he respects what Sarkisian has built in Austin, pointing to the kind of sustained success that has been hard to find at Texas for a long stretch.
For Longhorn fans, the praise lands with extra weight because it comes from across the Red River rivalry line and arrives after Texas has put together consecutive College Football Playoff trips while also navigating the move to the SEC. McGuire acknowledged how difficult the rebuild has been, which is part of what makes the compliment stand out even more, especially with the two programs still operating in the same heated conference landscape. [Read more 🡒]