Texas Longhorns football coach Steve Sarkisian has had one of the stranger seasons in the sport. Starting with a close 14-7 loss to the defending champion Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, Texas had hope to be a legitimate contender in 2025/2026.
Since then, though, the team has taken a 29-21 loss to the Florida Gators and looked unconvincing in wins over the Kentucky Wildcats and Mississippi State Bulldogs, but looked like world beaters during a 23-6 win over the Oklahoma Sooners in a Cotton Bowl game in which OU’s starting quarterback, John Mateer, wasn’t fully healthy.
It’s tough to pinpoint where the Longhorns will end up in the final standings. The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel simultaneously has hope for Texas but also recognizes that the team’s final three games against the Vanderbilt Commodores, Georgia Bulldogs, and Texas A&M Aggies could send the season spiraling.
“Texas is nothing if not resilient. A week after surviving in overtime at Kentucky, the Horns rallied from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit at Mississippi State to pull out yet another overtime win, 45-38. Arch Manning had his most productive game of the season (29 of 46 for 346 yards, three TDs and one interception) but was knocked out of the game in overtime. Backup Matthew Caldwell came in and threw the go-ahead touchdown,” Mandel wrote.
“Texas is still in the running to reach the SEC championship game, but it took overtime for the Horns to survive two of the three teams still winless in SEC play, with three current top-10 teams (Vanderbilt, Georgia and Texas A&M) still to play.”
Throw in Sarkisian’s reported interest in NFL head coaching jobs like the Tennessee Titans’ opening, plus his denial of said reports, and you have a school that doesn’t even know if the head coach is sticking around. That sort of uncertainty is never good for a team’s record.
Ultimately, it’s on Arch Manning to get the offense right, whether he knows Sark’s next step behind the scenes or not. The Longhorns’ defense has been keeping the defense in games, minus the Mississippi State near-debacle.
If Manning can bring enough certainty to an uncertain situation, maybe the Sark rumors die out and this team reaches the potential many saw in them before the season.