Ahead of the CFP rankings release, Steve Sarkisian argues the Longhorns have "the best win in the country right now"
The No. 7 Texas Longhorns are 7-1, their best start to a season since 2009 and the first time the program has made it this far into the season with just a single setback in the College Football Playoff era.
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As the CFP committee has done every year since 2014, they will release a top 25 rankings weekly during the second half of the season. The first such set of rankings comes out this Tuesday, and Texas will likely receive its first-ever top-10 ranking in the College Football Playoff’s top 25.
“It just seems pretty early to me,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday.
Though there’s still a month left in the season, with most CFP contenders still having four to five games left to play, the rankings that come out Tuesday will dominate conversation in the sport. And for the first time since 2014, the Longhorns will be in the thick of that conversation.
Texas’ resume features a loss, something that the likely top five (in no order) of Michigan, Georgia, Ohio State, Washington, and Florida State do not have on their undefeated resumes. But Sarkisian claimed Monday his team has something no other team, even those without a loss, can boast.
“I’d argue we have the best win in the country right now, the fact that we go into Tuscaloosa, Ala. and beat a team that was 52-1 in the previous 53 games of going in there,” Sarkisian said. “I hear so much about how tough the SEC is, but I haven’t seen any of those teams go into Alabama and win either.”
Texas’ 34-24 win over the Crimson Tide spring-boarded the then-No. 11 Longhorns all the way up to the No. 4 spot in the Associated Press top 25. Alabama has not lost a game since. Sarkisian’s team would rise to No. 3 in the rankings before suffering a setback to No. 12 Oklahoma.
So far, that’s the Horns’ only loss of the year. Texas also dispatched Wyoming and Rice in the non-conference slate, handled Kansas, Baylor, and BYU with ease, and eked out a win versus Houston. That has Texas tied atop the Big 12 with Oklahoma, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Iowa State. The picture, both playoff and conference, will clear up this weekend with Texas battling K-State and Oklahoma facing Oklahoma State in the final scheduled Bedlam matchup.
Ahead of a contest with massive Big 12 Championship implications, Texas O-lineman Kelvin Banks said he wouldn’t be paying attention to the rankings release.
“We try not to pay too much attention to it,” Banks said Monday. “We try to focus on the next game and who our next opponent is. We worry about and focus on beating them. We get through those teams, and hopefully we get in a position to play in it.”
That attitude is likely shared by a significant number of his teammates, including safety Michael Taaffe.
“We’re not going to worry about the Big 12 Championship,” Taaffe said Monday. “We’re not going to worry about the playoffs. We’re just going to worry about Kansas State because Kansas State is a Big 12 Championship game. We’ve got to win this game to move forward, and if we don’t win this game then nothing else is promised.”
Kansas State is playing excellent football at this juncture having just run over Houston for a 41-0 win, the Wildcats’ third straight. The defense is allowing 15.9 points per game, a number that has them No. 15 in the nation. That’s just ahead of No. 16 Texas’ 16.0 mark. Plus, a two quarterback system featuring Avery Johnson and Will Howard has the Wildcat offense scoring 37.4 points per game, good for No. 13 in the nation.
“I think (Chris) Klieman does a heck of a job,” Sarkisian said. “Throughout his career, wherever he’s gone, he’s had really good football teams. They play well in all three phases, and you can definitely see his imprint on that team. He’s been there long enough now that that’s his group.”
In order for the Longhorns to remain in the CFP conversation, they’ll have to take care of business versus the Wildcats on Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. What happens when toe meets leather at 11 a.m. on Fox dictates whether the next, not what CFP selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan and his associates announce on ESPN on Tuesday.
That said, Sarkisian took the chance to give that committee something to think about with his words on Monday.
“I haven’t shied away from this, I think we have a pretty good football team,” Sarkisian said. “I think we’re a very versatile team. We started our backup quarterback against a 5-2 team and won 35-6, so we get another opportunity this weekend to play with our backup quarterback.
“Not every team out there has had to endure some of the things we’ve had to. If they had to play with their backup, how would they play? I think it speaks to the type of team that we have.”
Sarkisian on Maalik Murphy
When asked if Murphy was the assumed starter for Saturday’s game, Sarkisian was quick to respond yes. That followed Sarkisian explaining that Quinn Ewers, Ethan Burke, and Jalen Catalon would all remain week to week.
Murphy was up and down Saturday, going 16-for-25 for 170 yards and two touchdowns, but also with an interception and a fumble lost. Sarkisian was asked if there is a certain level of grace he gave to Murphy considering it was his first career start.
“I definitely think that I have a level of understanding of the newness and the different things that come up,” Sarkisian said. “You can only create so much in practice, you can only create so much in a scrimmage and sometimes you have to live in real life.
“For example, the fumble there in the red area, maybe in a practice setting Maalik gets that ball off because the quarterback is not live and the defender has to pull off and now you can get that throw done. In person, now you realize he’s going to hit me if I raise my arm up and the ball is going to come out. I think that’s a really cool lesson learned for him.
“I think we’re really fortunate that a couple of those lessons learned, we were able to bounce back from and he was able to bounce from. He learned a lot there too about himself that maybe you don’t have to deal with in a practice setting. We were able to overcome those things and win a ballgame pretty convincingly. The next time that comes up, the goal is that he doesn’t do some of those same things.”
