Sarkisian still salty about the snub, ready for round 2

Texas got the anchor slot at SEC Media Days in Tampa this week, and Sarkisian made sure everyone remembered why. "Like they say, they save the best for last, right?" he opened, before spending the next 20 minutes making the case that his 9-3 Longhorns got jobbed by the committee last December.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

Texas' Steve Sarkisian is final coach at SEC Media Days in Tampa: "Like they say, they save the best for last, right?"

The record is what it is: Texas finished the 2025 regular season 9-3, with losses to Ohio State, Georgia and a head-scratching one to a 4-8 Florida team. The committee slotted the Horns at No. 13, four spots outside the field, and sent them to the Citrus Bowl instead, where they beat Michigan to close the year 10-3. Sarkisian hasn't let it go since, and he brought the receipts to Tampa again.

CFB Kings

@CFBKings

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian talks about being left out of the CFP at 9-3 last season and about their non-conference matchup with Ohio State. “The committee’s got to show us what happens now, and what’s the value that they’re placing on strength of schedule. Are we ever going to let a 9-3 team in as an at-large? We’ll find out.”

His pet argument: strength of schedule should count for something. Point to the Ohio State loss specifically — beat the Buckeyes, he says, and Texas is comfortably in. Don't play them at all, and the Horns are 10-2 with losses only to Georgia and Florida, which by his math is a playoff resume. It's the kind of hypothetical math coaches love to do in July, and it conveniently ignores that Florida loss is the one that actually sank them.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

Texas' Steve Sarkisian: "If we beat Ohio State (last year), we're surely in much better place for the playoffs. If I don't play Ohio State & play Jones Jr. High, we're 10-2 & our losses are to Georgia & Florida & we're a playoff team."

He's not just complaining, though — he's building the resume for round two. Texas' 2026 slate again runs through Ohio State, at Tennessee, Oklahoma in the annual Cotton Bowl grudge match, Florida, Ole Miss, at LSU and at Texas A&M, and Sarkisian wants credit for it before a single snap is played. "Our schedule is real. It's a real football schedule," he said, drawing a not-so-subtle line between his slate and the cupcake-heavy schedules some other contenders lean on.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

Texas' Steve Sarkisian: "Our schedule is real. It's a real football schedule." UT plays Ohio State, at Tennessee, Oklahoma in Dallas, Florida, Ole Miss, at LSU & at Texas A&M

On defense, Sarkisian is banking on a homecoming. Will Muschamp, who ran Texas' defense under Mack Brown from 2008-10 and helped get the Horns to the 2009 BCS title game, is back as coordinator after Sarkisian moved on from Pete Kwiatkowski this offseason. Sarkisian called the hire "everything I thought this hire could be," pushing an aggressive, physical scheme he thinks was missing last fall.

He also went to bat for Arch Manning, who's entering his first full year as the unquestioned starter under a spotlight most quarterbacks never face. Manning got hyped as a Heisman and No. 1 draft pick candidate before he'd even started a full season, then got hammered when he didn't live up to that hype immediately. Sarkisian's response: that kind of whiplash "would have melted 99% of people in his shoes." It's the same defensive posture Sarkisian's taking about his own team's resume — outsiders judged Texas too fast, and he's not letting either narrative stick without a fight.