The 12 members of the College Football Playoff Committee didn’t appear to be paying much attention to Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian’s media blitz this week as he publicly called for his team to make the 12-team roster after beating the then-No. 1 team. 3 Texas A&M Aggies.
So it’s doubtful they’ll pay more attention to Sarkisian’s threat to alter the team’s non-conference schedule to deal with the punishment of Texas’ loss to No. 1 Ohio State in Columbus.
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“Why are we even playing this game? Because if we were a 10-2 team right now, played four top-10 opponents and had three top-10 wins, we wouldn’t even be having that discussion right now,” Sarkisian said on SiriusXM’s Full Ride. “So, my point is: Why on earth should I play this game next year? For what? What are the benefits of it?”
Another area of Sargsyan’s frustration is that the committee is not following its stated standards.
Sarkisian said on the early signing day: “We have played the most difficult schedule among all the remaining teams in the CFP. This should be the first criterion, the intensity of the schedule.” The second criterion should be head-on competition. Well, we beat both teams by multiple points. So is this head-on competition? “
In light of this behavior by the commission, Texas is prepared to take tough scheduling measures. In the short term, however, Sarkisian said rematches against Ohio State next season and Michigan in 2027 will proceed as planned.
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“First of all, we want to honor Ohio State and Michigan. We went to Ann Arbor, we went to Columbus. We want to honor those trips back,” Sarkisian said. “So over the next two years, we know what our non-conference schedule is going to look like and that’s the right thing to do — we made a commitment to play them and we’re going to deliver on their promise to come here and play us.”
What about home series with Notre Dame in 2028 and 2029, though?
“I think anything beyond that is up for discussion. The CDC and I have had discussions — we need to take a hard look at the non-conference schedule beyond the next two years,” Sarkisian said.
The Texas head coach pointed out that because these games are years in advance, they agreed to it while the Longhorns were still in the Big 12 Conference and would have to add quality home games to sell season tickets, a problem that doesn’t exist in the SEC because of the new round of competition with the Aggies and Razorbacks and other high-profile opponents coming to Austin.
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“There’s a little bit of a different transition now that we’re in the Southeastern Conference, and now we’re going to be in nine conference games, so we have to be mindful of, number one, putting our players in the best position to succeed and grow, and number two, we have to be mindful of how the committee is going to evaluate to bring the best team into the College Football Playoff,” Sarkisian said.
Of course, as Sarkisian pointed out, winning more conference games to get to the SEC Championship Game and win negates the entire discussion, but the Horns also have to pay attention to how decisions are made by committee.
These decisions could result in scheduling changes that would go against the wishes of DelConte and Sarkisian and the best interests of the sport and its fans.
