Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian addresses future out of conference scheduling plans

A large storyline surrounding the current College Football Playoff selection process is the necessity of playing important out of conference games, and how that can positively or negatively affect a team’s resume for the College Football Playoff.

If you asked Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, he would claim that Texas’ close loss to Ohio State in Week 1 of the year is negatively affecting the Longhorns’ chance of making the Playoff.

“At the end of the day, they looked at the record, and said, ‘What is your record?’ And so my point is that that’s fine, but just tell us that that’s what it is,” Sarkisian said about yesterday’s rankings, placing Texas three spots away from the tournament. “I just don’t like contradicting yourself. You tell me it’s about strength of schedule, and you tell me about head-to-head, but yet, then you make a decision predicated on what our record is.”

Many Texas fans have shared a similar sentiment. Scheduling Ohio State feels like the main reason Texas is not in the current field, as a team with the resume of Texas inside the SEC is more than deserving of making the Playoff.

This has sparked heavy discussion on social media about the need for these out-of-conference contests. With the SEC moving to nine conference games next year, every team must schedule at least one P4 out-of-conference opponent going forward.

But that doesn’t mean it has to be Ohio State or Michigan, as Texas has played in the past two years. It could be Virginia Tech, like Vanderbilt played this year, or a bottom-tier team like Purdue or UCLA, programs that are closer to G5 level than the top half of their conferences.

With this idea on the minds of many fans and journalists, Sarkisian was asked to address the future of Texas in scheduling notable out-of-conference opponents.

“We’re going to honor Ohio State and Michigan. For the next two years, we know what our non-conference schedule is going to look like,” Sarkisian said. “I think anything beyond that is up for discussion. (Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte) and I have already had that discussion. We need to take a good, hard look at what our non conference schedule looks like beyond the next two years.”

Texas is set to host Ohio State in 2026 and Michigan in 2027, two teams they’ve played on the road in 2023 and 2024. Past that, Texas has plans to play Notre Dame in 2028-29 and Arizona State in 2032-33. From what Sarkisian has said, Texas is still mulling its options in regards to facing these two power conference teams going forward.

“So much of the non-conference scheduling was when we were in the Big 12. Well, there’s a little bit of a different shift now that we’re in the Southeastern Conference, and another shift now that we’re going to nine conference games. And so we’ve got to be mindful of one, putting our players in the best position to have success and to have growth. Two, we have to be mindful of how the committee is going to evaluate to put the best teams into the college football playoff,” Sarkisian said. “Now, the goal is to go win the SEC every year, and when you do that, you have to worry about what the records look like, and you probably have a good record if you’re in that game and winning it. But I also need to look at what the committee has shown me over the last two years, since we’ve expanded to 12 tams. They care about your record, and so we’ve got to be mindful of that as we go, and we’ll see what that looks like.”

Sarkisian added that he would like to schedule these high-importance out-of-conference games, but if the trend continues as is, they will have to be hesitant.

“I love the big brand games too. Nobody likes it more than me. I love coaching in those games. I love getting our teams ready for those games, like, I’m all for it. I love playing those games. I don’t like the repercussions of playing those games if I don’t get rewarded for playing them,” Sarkisian said. “And I think CDC is in line with that too, so we’re very aligned. But ultimately, we have a responsibility at the University of Texas to make sure that we’re putting our teams in the best position to go win championships, because that’s why we got hired, to go compete for championships. And so again, it’s not about shying away from playing anybody. I also know we play in the toughest conference in the country. We already have the number one strength of schedule in the country, and I think if you took Ohio State off our schedule, we still might have the toughest strength to schedule in the CFP.”

Sarkisian got the chance to really speak his mind on a lot of topics today, but none felt more notable than his response to questions about out of conference scheduling and Texas’ place in the College Football Playoff.