Recently, the Texas football program completed its 2025 season with a resounding home win over Texas A&M to hand the Aggies their first loss of the year and finish their own season at 9-3. Many fans assumed that Texas was eliminated from college football playoff contention with their blowout loss against Georgia, and most pundits still view things that way, but that hasn't stopped head coach Steve Sarkisian from lobbying for his team to make it to the dance despite their relatively mediocre record.
“How do you play against the good teams? Not necessarily when you’re favored by four touchdowns. I know this because we’ve been in the playoff the last three years,” said Sarkisian, when speaking on how the committee should view things, during an appearance on SEC This Morning, via Eric Henry of Horns247.
The Texas football team does have some impressive wins this year, including most notably against Texas A&M, as well as knocking off both Vanderbilt and Oklahoma during the year.
However, the Longhorns also lost to the lowly Florida Gators, and needed overtime to beat both Mississippi State and Kentucky this season. In all likelihood, those games will be too much for the committee to overlook, as Texas is in competition with several other, seemingly more deserving teams for a limited number of spots.
Some have made the argument that Texas's loss against Ohio State to open up the year should actually be viewed as a positive, since the Longhorns played the Buckeyes closer than anyone this season, with others wondering what the point is for teams to schedule difficult out of conference games if they could just schedule easier opponents and have a better shot at the playoff.
While there's no one right answer to these questions, that isn't stopping Sarkisian from lobbying for his team.
