The Texas Longhorns find themselves right back where they were a season ago. They have two losses by mid-October despite coming into the season with national championship expectations, and while those are still on the table, the Longhorns are backed into a corner.
For the second straight year, head coach Steve Sarkisian has a team that has underperformed through the first six games and has no choice but to win out if it hopes to make the College Football Playoff.
Thus setting the stage for a matchup with the No. 7-ranked Ole Miss Rebels, a game that may carry postseason implications.
Enormous Stakes
Texas learned the hard way that the playoff committee looks only at the loss column when determining the final rankings. The schedule, challenging or not, doesn’t matter; the quality of wins doesn't matter, and neither does the eye test.
The final rankings take one thing into account: the numbers in the win-loss column. Context be damned, teams cannot afford more than two losses and still feel safe about getting into the field.
Yet Saturday’s matchup with Ole Miss won’t be the last game with playoff implications for the Longhorns. Every game left on the schedule for Texas carries a win-or-stay-home mantra. Keep playoff hopes alive or expect to end right back on the outside looking in.
Playoff contention isn’t the only concern, though. Failure to turn around his side of the ball—the very one he decided to change at defensive coordinator to free up more time for himself as the play-caller—may lead to major changes.
It may still be too early to say another season of missing the playoffs would put Sarkisian on the hot seat. That is, at least as the head coach, because Sarkisian the play-caller could absolutely find himself without the play sheet next season, in a decision that may not entirely be of his own accord.
Sarkisian has said time and again during these offensive struggles over the last two seasons that a big reason Texas hired him was his play-calling acumen. Yet, for the second straight season, his play-calling has become one of his biggest criticisms, and many argue it is holding the Longhorns back.
Given the heavy investment in Sarkisian and his coaching staff, as well as in the roster as a whole, another failure to reach the postseason could create pressure to change the program's structure.
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