Texas got the last word in Tampa, literally. Sarkisian was the final coach to take the podium at SEC Media Days, and he made sure it counted.
Sarkisian opened with a little swagger about closing out the event.
Texas' Steve Sarkisian is final coach at SEC Media Days in Tampa: "Like they say, they save the best for last, right?"
The real substance came when the questions turned to last season's gut punch. Texas finished 9-3 and still got left out of the expanded College Football Playoff field, a decision that reportedly hinged on schedule-strength metrics the committee had promised to weigh more heavily. Sarkisian hasn't let it go, and he made his case again in Tampa.
Sarkisian challenged the committee directly on whether a 9-3 team will ever get an at-large nod.
He didn't stop at the general gripe either. Sarkisian ran the alternate-history math himself, pointing out that ducking a marquee non-conference date would've padded the record and probably bought a playoff bid anyway.
Sarkisian laid out the hypothetical where playing a cupcake instead of Ohio State gets Texas into the field at 10-2.
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."
That's not a hollow threat, either. Texas' 2026 slate still includes Ohio State, a trip to Tennessee, Oklahoma in the annual Dallas showdown, Florida, Ole Miss, and road trips to LSU and Texas A&M, a schedule Sarkisian insists is proof his program isn't ducking anybody even if the committee didn't reward it last time. He was noncommittal on whether a future Notre Dame series gets added to that gauntlet.
On defense, Sarkisian sounded genuinely fired up about bringing back Will Muschamp, who's returning to Austin for a second stint after building Georgia's defense into a two-time national champion unit. The pairing is being sold as a philosophical match, with Sarkisian calling the hire everything he hoped it would be and describing the style as physical and in-your-face.
Sarkisian raved about what Muschamp brings to the Longhorns' defensive identity.
Texas' Steve Sarkisian on new DC Will Muschamp: "A great addition. It's everything I thought this hire could be. Will & I believe in a style of defense that is in your face, that is tough."
Then there's Arch Manning, who's carried outsized expectations since before he took his first meaningful snap. Sarkisian pushed back on the same media crowd that hyped Manning as a No. 1 draft pick and Heisman lock, then turned around and ripped him when he didn't immediately look like peak Peyton. Sarkisian's point was simple: that kind of whiplash would break most 20-somethings, let alone one living under the Manning name.