Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian isn’t sure that playing Notre Dame in 2028 and 2029 offers that juice that’s worth the squeeze anymore. In this case, the “squeeze” is the pressure of balancing a tough SEC schedule with a winnable nonconference slate. And then, of course, the final squeeze is trying to balance all of that with still getting some premier matchups like the Longhorns and the Fighting Irish.
Texas has made comments before that cast some doubt on the series ever getting played, but Sarkisian’s comments seem to all but close the books on the situation. In the usual SEC coach fashion, while essentially saying he thought the Longhorns would have to back out of the series, he blamed the College Football Playoff committee. He seemed to make it clear he was essentially holding the series hostage.
“I don’t know yet about Notre Dame,” Sarkisian said during his time at the mic as SEC Media Days continued. “We’ll see, because I think the (CFP selection) committee has to show us what happens now and what’s the value that they’re placing on strength of schedule and are we going to let a 9-3 team in as an at-large? We’ll find out, and I think this year will be a great test of what that looks like.”
Sarkisian campaigned ineffectively for his 9-3 Texas squad to get into the CFP field last year. To hear him tell it, the reason he didn’t get in was because of an early-season non-conference loss to Ohio State. In reality, the games that worked to keep him out were more likely his blowout loss to Georgia and an ugly defeat to 4-8 Florida.
Steve Sarkisian casts doubt on Texas-Notre Dame series in 2028 and 2029
It’s worth noting that despite those two bad losses, Texas finished No. 13 in the CFP rankings, behind No. 11 Notre Dame — the first team left out — and No. 12 BYU. Texas was the highest-ranked three-loss team after the regular season and finished ahead of two-loss Vanderbilt and Utah.
There has been talk about the CFP field expanding to a whopping 24 teams. If that happens, the SEC may run out of excuses for missing the CFP. Texas would have surely gotten in last year if there were already 24 teams allowed.
For now, though, only 12 teams get in, and teams all over the country are figuring out the easiest schedule they can get without getting punished for it. Notre Dame has seen this already this year. USC has talked plenty about making the playoffs because they lost to the Fighting Irish.
It’s the unfortunate reality of the current era of college sports. The Trojans weren’t the first to talk about backing out of series with Power 4 opponents. Texas won’t be the last.
The problem is that if this trend continues, it’s going to be very hard for Notre Dame to get the kind of schedule they need to convince people they belong in the CFP if they lose even one game. Texas also won’t be the last team to try and hold the playoffs hostage and threaten only to schedule G6 teams in the future.
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