Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is pushing the playoff committee harder than anyone right now. The Longhorns finished 9-3 after beating Texas A&M, and Sarkisian is aggressively pushing their strength of schedule and ranked wins. The message is now being echoed by college football analysts across the country.

“It’s a hell of an argument. It’s a great argument for Texas. And if I was Steve Sarkeesian, I’d be making the same argument,” said Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt on his CFB show.

Klatt placed Texas at No. 12 in his latest top 15 playoff rankings, supporting Sarkisian’s case for committee consideration. Sarkisian himself has been very vocal about why he believes Texas deserves a shot.

“I’d love to say that we went out and played a perfect season. We didn’t; we lost some tough games, but so did a lot of other people.” Sarkisian said on the Colin Cowherd Show. I think the difference is we won some really big games, you know, we played 5, you know, top 10 teams in the country. Out of our 12 regular-season games, 5 of them were against top-10-ranked teams in the country.”

And he’s got plenty to point to. Texas is the only team to beat three AP or CFP top-10 opponents at the time of their game; they are the only team with two wins over currently CFP top-ranked teams and the only team with three wins over teams currently holding top-15 spots in the CFP. On top of that, Texas is also the first team since the 2019 national champion LSU to defeat three AP top-10 teams in a single season.

Their win over previously undefeated Texas A&M reignited the conversation around whether a three-loss team deserves playoff consideration. Strength of schedule is central to that debate, as Steve Sarkisian’s team sits at 9-3 with losses to Ohio State, Florida, and Georgia, but also, they had key wins over Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M.

Now the resume looks strong because they faced the top-tier team, Ohio State, in Week 1 instead of choosing an easy win. And they should get a benefit from that. Even ESPN’s Paul Finebaum backs up the stance.

Of course, Voice of the SEC and one of Texas’s most consistent national backers, Paul Finebaum, had to chime in. Finebaum emphasized that Texas chose to open on the road at Ohio State, a decision few playoff contenders would willingly make. While other top programs scheduled soft openers for an easy boost, Texas went straight into a heavyweight matchup. In Finebaum’s view, that choice alone adds weight to their playoff case: they embraced risk when others didn’t, and the committee should recognize that.

Now, Florida’s loss still stings the most, but SEC Network analyst Tim Tebow echoed the idea that Texas’s losses need proper context. Two of those defeats came on the road against Georgia and Ohio State, teams with arguably the most hostile environments in college football. Tebow also pointed out that Texas is 3-2 in games against top-10 opponents, something few teams in the playoff race can match.

There’s no denying Texas played one of the toughest schedules in the country, and their losses came against elite opponents in environments where almost no one survives. Those facts strengthen Sarkisian’s case. But even with a résumé built on heavyweights, the Longhorns still face obstacles that could complicate their playoff path

Steve Sarkisian’s team big setback

Steve Sarkisian is making a strong case for Texas’s playoff chances, but the committee will look at other factors, too. After Alabama’s Iron Bowl win, they are in the SEC championship game, and if they lose against Georgia, they might enter the same scene as the Longhorns as a three-loss team, which makes their case weaker.

Now that both teams with a 3-loss record, the comparative outcomes of common opponents will come into play, and Bama’s title run and win against Georgia in the regular season might favor them. Something that they already did with SMU last season.

Now, looking at Texas’s competitors, Vanderbilt might hold a chance after their win against Tennessee and 10-2 record, but they might lose against Steve Sarkisian’s team in a head-to-head win, as they lost against them in the regular season.

Another factor that might come in Steve Sarkisian’s Texas way is that they weren’t that competitive against the weak Kentucky and MS State teams. As they won with a 16-13 close margin against the Wildcats and had a 45-38 win against MS State. Now, let’s wait and see if Sarkisian’s efforts transition them into the playoffs this season or not.