Steve Sarkisian reveals how Texas used season-opener vs. Ohio State for offseason motivation

For the fourth consecutive season, Texas will face a top-10 ranked opponent in the first two weeks of the regular season.

The Longhorns hosted No. 1 Alabama in 2022, but hit the road for a matchup with No. 3 Alabama in 2023 and No. 10 Michigan in 2024. This season, Steve Sarkisian‘s team will travel to Columbus for a marquee matchup against Ohio State on August 30.

This marks a rematch of last season’s College Football Playoff Semifinal matchup, where Ohio State downed Texas 28-14 to take the Cotton Bowl and advance to the National Championship against Notre Dame. The Buckeyes eventually took care of business, winning their first title since 2015.

Sarkisian joined ESPN’s Greg McElroy on the “Always College Football” podcast, where he revealed that the Longhorns have been using that matchup against Ohio State as motivation during the offseason.

“I can always feel that little jab of what Ohio State is doing,” Sarkisian said. “They’re in training camp too. They’re in team run and they’re sore and tired too. I’m sure Ryan Day feels the same way about us. That’s the beauty of playing these games. This is three straight years for us. We played Alabama in week two here and went to Alabama in week two, two years ago. We went to Michigan last year and this year we’re going to Ohio State. So this is three straight years that it’s not gonna be new for our veteran players, having played at Alabama, at Michigan and now at Ohio State.”

Texas’ program has evolved in major way since 2022

The Texas program has grown in a major way since that 2022 matchup with Alabama, as it has gradually increased its win total every season since. After recording eight wins in 2022, the ‘Horns totaled 12 wins in 2023 and 13 wins in 2024. They will be looking to reach 14 wins this season, winning their first National Championship since 2005.

“We take a lot of pride in preparing for those games and take pride going into those games prepared to play with the right mindset and the right physicality that’s needed. Definitely the right execution is gonna be needed in a game like that. We use it some degree. It’s not the end all be all because this is what training camp is all about. We’ve got to prepare ourselves for a grind of a 16 or 17 game season, but yet man it’s sure good to have those [big games] that are at the front end of the season to kind of kickstart you and get you ready to go.”