Could first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian propel the Longhorns into the national championship race?
As with most new head coaches, the success is often gradual. However, Sarkisian is an offensive guru that has developed an impressive coaching staff in Austin. The roster that he inherited isn’t so bad, either.
If Texas can compete for the Big 12 title in 2021, there’s a very realistic chance that they could find themselves on the cusp of the College Football Playoff.
Brad Crawford of 247Sports recently listed five potential College Football Playoff crashers in 2021. Whether these programs reach the final four or not, Crawford believes they’ll have a say in which teams do.
Miami, UCLA, Texas, UNC, and LSU were each mentioned. Here’s what 247Sports had to say about the Longhorns potentially shaking up the rankings ahead of the selection committee’s final reveal.
Very few first-year coaches this season inherit a roster quite like Steve Sarkisian with the Longhorns, who bring back a bevy of possible all-conference playmakers on both sides of the football in 2021 and feel good about their situation at quarterback despite losing multi-year starter Sam Ehlinger. Sarkisian knows he’s in a win-now situation with the players Tom Herman recruited and Texas won’t be an easy out for either of the Big 12’s projected titans at the top of the conference. In fact, there’s a chance the Longhorns could be 5-0 and ranked inside the Top 10 heading into the Oklahoma showdown in October if all goes well early.
There’s always going to be two, potentially three, barometer games on the schedule for Sarkisian and the Longhorns annually and those matchups fall this season across consecutive weeks in October and the first weekend in November. We’re talking about Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Iowa State. Texas must find a way to get at least two wins across that trio of games to stay out front in the Big 12 Championship race as a potential Playoff contender. If not, the Longhorns could at least fit the Playoff crasher role to try and derail the Sooners or Cyclones from getting to the final four. You often hear about the SEC West being known as college football’s black and blue division, but if you’re looking for a conference deserving of that title from top to bottom, the Big 12 is where it resides.
Only time will tell, but the hype and expectations are as high as they’ve ever been on the Forty Acres right now.