With their playoff hopes in jeopardy, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is signaling that if the committee penalizes a tough schedule, he’s prepared to fundamentally change his own. A move that could send shockwaves through the non-conference landscape and put one of college football’s most storied independent programs on notice.

“I think we have to. At the end of the day, now we’re going to nine conference games,”  Coach Steve Sarkisian said on Dec. 1. “We’ve got to be mindful of the fact that we’ve played five top-ten ranked teams. The next closest team that’s ranked ahead of us has played two. There’s multiple teams in front of us that have played none.”

Miami is the two-loss program sitting immediately ahead of Sarkisian’s roster. It is a win against ranked Notre Dame, and its impact on the CFP rankings is a topic of controversy in itself. Coach Sarkisian mulled over Texas’ future, scheming for future playoff contendership. On the possibility of designing an easy non-conference schedule for Texas, he is considering dropping strong programs from the non-conference schedule.

Looking at Texas’s upcoming non-conference matchups, the Notre Dame, OSU, and Michigan games might be canceled. Texas faces the Buckeyes again in the 2026 season. while the Michigan faceoff is scheduled in the following year. As for the Irish, Texas is scheduled to play them twice in the 2028 and 2029 seasons.

Paul Finebaum had opined that the Texas Longhorns could still make it to the playoffs even with a three-loss season. His reasons stressed Texas’ strength of schedule and quality of competition. The Florida Gators have struggled all season. Their losses against blue-blood programs in Ohio State and Georgia have almost derailed Texas’ playoff dreams. But at the same time, they might have given them leverage over programs stacked with easy wins.

Steve Sarkisian’s decision might put Notre Dame in jeopardy

Over the season, Texas played against five top-ten-ranked teams, including Ohio State, Georgia, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M. And yet, programs with a relatively easy strength of schedule are trending to make the leap in the postseason. If the CFP rankings place more weight on records than on the strength of schedule, Texas might benefit by moving to an easier schedule in the future. The 2025 season is already in jeopardy. However, he might as well attempt to salvage the rest of his future schedules.

“At that point, if we’re just staring at a record, we’ve got to put ourselves in a better position to get a better record,” Steve Sarkisian added.

But Steve Sarkisian’s possible move puts the Irish in jeopardy. Notre Dame is an independent program, and since it cannot derive credibility from conference titles and championship games, it needs to face off against big-shot names during their football season. Presently, it’s a long-standing rivalry against the USC Trojans, which has been ongoing for years. However, it seems the Trojans might not want to continue with that decades-long rivalry. With a packed tough Big Ten schedule, the Trojans wouldn’t want to face a powerhouse like Notre Dame before prepping for the Big Ten championship game.

As of now, no future games are scheduled between Notre Dame and USC. Moreover, Notre Dame is the most on-edge playoff team. With its tough schedule, Texas believes it has a stronger case than Miami, putting a team like Notre Dame at the most risk of being replaced in the playoff picture. Share your thoughts in the comments below.