Don't feel bad for Texas

Last week's ranking set the stage for what became official on Sunday: Texas will miss the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2022.

That sound you hear - and have been hearing for over a week now - is likely Steve Sarkisian continuing to make his case that the Longhorns deserve a spot as one of the top-12 teams in the nation.

Texas received a substantial bump last week for knocking off Texas A&M to end the season, moving up three spots to No. 13. Unfortunately, with the Longhorns on the sideline this weekend, their fate was left in the hands of the committee to move them into the field.

Several factors contributed to Texas' position, but the common gripe among the fan base and administration is that the team is being punished for a season-opening loss at Ohio State. While other schools scheduled weaker opponents, the Longhorns challenged themselves by playing a road game against the defending national champions.

Sarkisian focused heavily on that point in the past few weeks, threatening to make changes to Texas' upcoming non-conference schedule if his squad isn't in the final CFP field.

"We scheduled Ohio State and played that game, and we lose 14-7," Sarkisian said on SiriusXM's Full Ride. "We outgain them by nearly 200 yards, and we got stopped twice inside their 5-yard line on two fourth downs. We lost the game, but they've beaten every other team they played on their schedule by three scores.

"So, at that point, why do we even play that game? Because if we're a 10-2 team right now that played four top-10 ranked opponents with three top-10 wins, we're not even having a discussion right now. My point is: Why the hell am I going to play that game next year? For what? What good does it do?"

Well, for one, Steve, it's football, and you are at the University of Texas.

Look, Sarkisian has to stump for the Longhorns to make the playoff - he's paid handsomely by the school to do so. This puts him in an awkward position, as he has to find reasons to poke holes in the committee's logic. However, Texas prides itself on being a premier program - one that should welcome powerhouse matchups with teams like Ohio State to challenge itself at the highest level.

You don't need to listen to me about that. Instead, let's hear from a two-time playoff participant head coach on the value of early-season blockbuster non-conference games.

"When you look at the first three or four weeks of the college football season, if we don't play those types of games and we're just waiting for conference play to begin, where's the excitement? What are we talking about? To get that spotlight that we had in Week 2 and that stage, I think was great for both of our programs."

Still not convinced? OK, let's get the same coach's thoughts on what winning that high-profile non-conference game can do for a team.

"That win gave us as much or more confidence than anything throughout the season to help us navigate our way through some of those other tougher games late in the year because it gave us some more belief in what we were doing."

Now that sounds like the type of coach who wouldn't back down from a challenge early in the season and certainly wouldn't schedule a lesser opponent to make things easy on his program. If Sarkisian wants to talk to that guy, he just has to look in the mirror because those quotes came from him in 2023 before the final CFP rankings that year.

Texas - in its final season as a Big 12 member - had played a Week 2 road game against mighty Alabama and came away with arguably the most impressive victory of the campaign. The win was a major reason the Big 12 champion Longhorns got a berth in the final four-team playoff.

Sarkisian seemed to be quite supportive of playing non-conference blockbusters that season. He was also pretty happy with Texas' road game at Michigan in September of last year.

"I think it serves us well in preparation," Sarkisian said in August, as per Isabella Capuchino of Sports Illustrated. "I really think going to Michigan early in the year (last season), helped us and gave us a lot of confidence going to Kyle Field at the end of the year."

Would a 10-2 Texas be a lock for the playoffs? Maybe, but the committee is certainly docking the Longhorns more for a road loss to 4-8 Florida and a 25-point blowout to Georgia. Texas played four true road games this year, finishing with two losses and two overtime wins over Mississippi State and Kentucky - a pair of teams that posted a combined 3-13 in SEC play.

If the Longhorns had beaten Florida, the close loss to Ohio State likely would've been the data point that raised them above other 10-2 teams in the final rankings. As it is, the result versus the Buckeyes is one of the reasons Texas is the highest-ranked three-loss team.

That's the benefit of playing such a high-profile non-conference game.

The Longhorns got a significant bump from those contests in two straight years, with wins over Alabama and Michigan going a long way toward helping them make the playoff. Sarkisian wants the same treatment this time, despite the result going the other way.

That ain't how it works, no matter how loud the outcry is from Austin.