Steve Sarkisian is already making his case for why Texas shouldn’t be penalized for taking on a powerhouse opponent right out of the gate in 2025.
The Longhorns will open their season with a trip to Columbus to face Ohio State, the reigning national champions. It’s a high-stakes rematch of their College Football Playoff semifinal from last season, and Sarkisian is embracing the challenge. But he’s also hoping the CFP committee won’t punish the loser of the game just because they scheduled a heavyweight showdown.
“I love this opportunity,” Sarkisian said on The Herd. “I think it’s great for our players in summer workouts and training camp to know who we’re getting ready to go play and the task at hand. I think now with the expanded playoffs, as long as we don’t punish those teams for going to play those games, then it’s great for college football.”
Sarkisian has been vocal about the importance of strength of schedule, and this matchup against Ohio State is as tough as it gets. But he believes that taking on elite competition should be rewarded, not penalized.
“It’s opening weekend, it’s Texas and Ohio State. It’s a rematch of the semifinal game of last year’s playoffs. It’s great for their program, great for our program. That’s what the players we recruit, that’s the games they want to play in. They want to be in those big-time games,” he added.
Sarkisian has experience in marquee non-conference battles, but those matchups came with the risk of an early loss, which can sometimes be a setback in the CFP race. Now, with the 12-team playoff format, there’s more wiggle room—but Sarkisian wants to ensure the committee "fairly" evaluates teams that take on tough early-season tests.
“This is a great opportunity for both programs,” he said. “Somebody’s going to win, somebody’s going to lose. But hopefully, the team that doesn’t win that game doesn’t get punished from the committee for playing in that game early in the season.”
So, essentially, if Texas ends up with three losses, the Ohio State game shouldn't count, right? There's a balance to this kind of thing. Of course we want to see marquee matchups, but if you're not going to suffer any punishment for losses because you're gifted free games, that does nothing but devalue the regular season.