Why did Longhorns coach Sarkisian REALLY take a shot at Texas Tech?

Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian took a shot at a former conference rival on Thursday, in what could also be interpreted as an opening argument to the college football playoff committee. Sark used Texas Tech as an example of a school that doesn't strong opponents. Of course, Sark believes the Longhorns difficult 2025 schedule should have been given more respect by the CFP committee last year.

There is now a perception, based on the CFP committee's choices, that teams now benefit from scheduling easy non-conference slate. That's not great news for Texas, who have the toughest 2026 schedule in college football . Coupled with a new nine-game SEC schedule, Texas also plays Ohio State.

Next season, Texas will play Michigan and then home-and-home with Notre Dame in 2028 and 2029 . That is probably why Sark is taking aim at teams and conferences whose schedules don't reach even a median quality level. Per Anwar Richardson , Sark was asked by a fan at the Touchdown Club in Houston if there is any way to get the College Football Playoff Committee to factor in the strength of schedule in its decision-making.

“There’s a team in our state that plays in another conference that has a schedule that I would argue if I played with our twos and our threes, we could go undefeated, and they’ll probably make the CFP this year,” Sarkisian said. Sark didn't mention Texas Tech by name, but 1 + 1 = 2. The Texas coach is planting an early seed to the playoff committee, some schedules are better than others and when judging similar records.