The Texas Longhorns can achieve a handful of things on Friday. Ahead of the team is a potential Big 12 title and College Football Playoff berth. The season still has bigger picture ramifications as well.
Texas’ bid for its first 11-win season since 2009 is well documented. What is less known is that its head coach Steve Sarkisian can accomplish something that hasn’t been done since 1977.
Sarkisian can become the first Texas head coach to have an 11-win season through three years in Austin since Fred Akers won 11 games in his first season. Akers, of course, took over for Longhorn legend Darrell Royal. In addition, he inherited all-time running back Earl Campbell among other Texas greats.
A win on Friday would put the 2023 team in the same breath as Mack Brown’s 2001 squad. That team went 11-1 in Brown’s fourth season as head coach at Texas.
The Longhorns are as close as they have been to a Big 12 title in over a decade. Undoubtedly, they are the closest they have been to a playoff berth. It speaks to how much and how fast the program has improved since the beginning of the current coaching regime.
The trajectory of the program is encouraging as we reach the end of Sarkisian’s third season. His team will look to elevate the program toward its high goals on Friday.