Steve Sarkisian makes his case for Texas as a CFP team after Texas A&M win

AUSTIN, Texas — If there’s one thing that Steve Sarkisian regularly refuses to entertain, it’s hypotheticals. And that’s fair.

When Sarkisian was asked during Monday’s press conference to speculate about whether his No. 16 Texas Longhorns would deserve a spot in the College Football Playoff with a win on Friday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium against the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies, he demurred with more consideration than he normally affords questions in that genre.

“I’ll talk about that after the game. If we’re fortunate enough to win the game, I’ll talk about that after the game, because I think that would be the better platform,” Sarkisian said.

Well, the platform was there in the Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Complex after the resounding 27-17 victory in which the Longhorns ran away from the Aggies with a 24-7 scoring advantage in the second half behind 285 yards of offense and two critical interceptions coming out of halftime.

So Sarkisian stood on it.

“I think we’re absolutely a playoff team. I’m glad you asked, because I didn’t want to have to be part of opening statement,” Sarkisian said.

The Longhorns head coach proceeded by wielding an arsenal of stats.

Texas is the first team since the 2019 title-winning LSU squad to notch three regular-season victories over top-10 opponents.

Texas has the No. 5 strength of schedule nationally with games against the No. 1, No. 3, and No. 4 teams in the country.

The season-opening road loss against Ohio State ended in a one-game score with the ball in possession of Texas as the Longhorns out-gained the Buckeyes.

The seven-point margin of victory by Ohio State was the closet any team has played Ryan Day’s buzzsaw — an 18-point loss by Illinois was the second-closest defeat.

Discussing the non-conference loss to the Buckeyes segued into a critical talking point for Sarkisian.

“I think more importantly, what message do we want to send to the head coaches and the athletic directors around the country? You want us not to schedule Ohio State? Because if we’re a 10-2 team right now, this isn’t a discussion. We’re in the playoff, but we were willing to go up there and play that game,” Sarkisian said.

It’s question that committee should seriously consider regarding the best interests of the sport, especially as it relates to the nation’s premier conference that is moving to a more grueling nine-game schedule next season. The SEC mandates a non-conference game against a Power Four opponent, but the quality of that opponent is up to a school’s discretion.

The Northwesterns of the world still qualify.

”When you play five top-10 ranked teams in the regular season, and you go 3-2, you beat three of them, and you schedule an Ohio State in out-of-conference play, I surely don’t think we want to punish us to do that, because what are we all going to do?“

It might look like No. 11 BYU’s schedule, with non-conference games against Portland State, East Carolina, and Stanford.

It might look like Texas Tech’s schedule, with non-conference games against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Kent State, and Oregon State.

It might look like Ole Miss’ schedule, with non-conference games against Georgia State, Tulane, The Citadel, and Washington State.

It might look like Utah’s schedule, with non-conference games against Cal Poly, Wyoming, and UCLA.

“We’re all going to get out of those games, just like a lot of other teams in the country have done, and they’ve got nice, pretty records right now, but they weren’t willing to go play these games non-conference. We’re willing to go play those games. I just hope we don’t get punished for doing that,” Sarkisian said.

The Texas head coach moved on to addressing the oversized dead Gator in the room.

“This whole idea that, ‘Hey, well, you lost to Florida,’ well, the team that played for the national championship last year lost to Northern Illinois at home,” Sarkisian said.

“So you’re going to punish us and you don’t want to punish them, but yet they still they were good enough to go play for a national title. So I have no doubt in my mind that the team we have in that locker room downstairs is a playoff football team and worthy of an opportunity to play for a national championship.”