Steve Sarkisian, Texas Throwing Tantrum After Not Getting Their Way

It's a classic playground tactic. When things don't go your way, just take your ball and go home. That seems to be what the Texas Longhorns intend to do moving forward when it comes to non-conference scheduling. And in doing so, they're proving the point made by opposing teams and conferences about the disadvantages of nine-game conference schedules.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian has not handled the most recent College Football Playoff poll releases well, saying that the 9-3 Longhorns must be included to avoid doing a "disservice" to the sport.

RELATED: Texas, Sarkisian College Football Playoff Lobbying Reaches Whole New Ridiculous Level

Most of his argument stems from the fact that the Longhorns lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes in week one. Sarkisian's thinking goes that Texas is being punished for losing that game, a game they didn't have to schedule. But it's being conveniently ignored that the Longhorns then lost twice, in conference, including to a very bad Florida Gators team that won just three total games against non-FCS teams this regular season.

And now, as a result of this misplaced frustration, Sark is throwing an absolute fit about future Longhorns scheduling.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian of the Texas Longhorns. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

Sarkisian Can't Accept Ohio State Loss Isn't The Issue

Many Longhorns fans and boosters on social media have suggested that, as a result of not being rewarded, Texas should cancel its scheduled game with the Buckeyes in the 2026 regular season. 

Sarkisian was asked about it during his press conference, and though he said Texas will "honor" its commitments, all future games will be "up for discussion."

"Yeah, you know, I think there's a couple things, there's layers to this. Bear with my answer," Sark said. "First of all, we're gonna honor Ohio State in Michigan. You know, that we went there, we went to Ann Arbor, we went to Columbus, and we're gonna honor those return trips. So for the next two years, we know what our non-conference schedule is gonna look like, and that's the right thing to do. We made the commitment to play them. Now we'll honor that commitment for them to come play us here. I think anything beyond that is up for discussion."

What does that discussion mean, exactly? Likely Texas changing its future schedules to avoid big-name non-conference games. In fact, he said that he and AD Chris Del Conte have already discussed it.

"We need to take a good hard look at what our non-conference schedule looks like beyond the next two years," Sark said. "Because you gotta remember, you know, so much of the non-conference scheduling was when we were in the Big 12, and those schedules were made 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 a little and another shift now that we're going to nine conference games.

"But I also need to look at what the committee has shown me over the last two years since we've expanded to 12 games. They care about your record. And so we've got to be mindful of that as we go. Again, we're gonna honor Ohio State and Michigan. We're excited to play those games. They're gonna be great environments in DKR. I know our players are looking forward to it. Our coaches are looking forward to those games. It should be highly competitive ball games with great teams, great players, great coaches. But beyond that is where we gotta have some real discussions of what our non-conference schedule looks like after that."

There's your tantrum. Lose three games, including one to a bad SEC team, take your ball and go home. 

Here's what's funny about this argument; this is precisely what fans of teams in the Big Ten, and the former Pac-12, were saying all along. It's extremely tough to play nine conference games. It's even tougher to play nine conference games and add a tough non-conference game. 

Look at the USC Trojans, for example. In 2024 USC scheduled LSU in Las Vegas and Notre Dame in LA. On top of playing nine conference games in the Big Ten, including against Penn State, Washington and at Michigan. The season spiraled, as they blew close games, and they finished 6-6. In 2025, the Trojans finished 9-3 in the regular season, with one of their losses being a non-conference game on the road at Notre Dame. Lincoln Riley could make the same argument that Sark's making; we're being punished for scheduling Notre Dame instead of a lower level team. And USC's more highly rated than Texas by most objective ranking systems. 

What Sark's failing to acknowledge is that it's not just the loss to Ohio State that's hurting them, it's losing to Florida. It's playing ugly, close games against Mississippi State and Kentucky. The Longhorns trailed 31-14 to a terrible Bulldogs team in the fourth quarter, for example. It's that Texas looked horrible against a terrible Wildcats team, with fourth quarter offensive drives of -13 yards, five yards, seven yards, and 21 yards. 

Still, had the Longhorns gone 10-2 with a win over Ohio State, even with the loss to Florida and looking horrible against some of the worst teams in the SEC, they'd easily be in the playoff field ahead of other 10-2 teams, because they won that game. The only reason they're even in the conversation, and not buried deep in the bottom of the top 25, is because they played Ohio State.