Steve Sarkisian Says Three-Loss Longhorns Are ‘Absolutely a Playoff Team’
Now that the regular season is over, it’s time for the political season to begin in college football, and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is off to a hot start.
In his postgame comments following the Longhorns’ shocking dismantling of third-ranked Texas A&M, Sarkisian made the case for his team’s inclusion in the playoffs (despite their loss to unranked Florida) by citing the recent history of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
“This whole idea that, ‘Well, you lost to Florida.’ Well, the team that played for the national championship last year lost to Northern Illinois at home,” Sarkisian said via On3. “So you’re going to punish us, and you don’t want to punish them, but they were good enough to go play for a national title?
“So I have no doubt that the team we have in that locker room downstairs is a playoff football team and deserves to have the opportunity to play for a national championship.”
All credit to Sargsyan for defending his team, locked and loaded for journalists just minutes after a thrilling match against a rival. However, his reasoning has some flaws.
First of all, yes: Notre Dame suffered a shocking home loss to Northern Illinois last year. But unlike Texas, Notre Dame finished 11-1. Texas is a three-loss team.
That’s a big difference.
Additionally, Notre Dame did not have a 25-point loss on its record in November, as Texas did after its 35-10 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.
So, once again, Sark gets an A for his efforts, but his argument falls apart under closer scrutiny.
Still, given Texas’ win and Miami’s strong performance against Pitt, there’s a chance Texas and Notre Dame will look outward when the committee reveals its rankings on Saturday.
