Why Michigan and Texas are cherishing opportunity to play in bowl despite missing playoff

Before the college football season commenced, it's fair to say both the Michigan Wolverines and Texas Longhorns had greater aspirations than to play in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on New Year's Eve.

However, despite both programs missing the playoff, each coach is making the most of the opportunity to develop their players by going through a few extra weeks of practices and getting one more chance for the players on the current roster to get game action.

Declining a bowl invite would have never been considered just a few years ago, but with the expanded playoff and some programs undergoing mass amounts of players transferring, skipping out on bowls that aren't a part of the College Football Playoff is becoming a bit more trendy.

Michigan Wolverines — A Michigan football pylon during the first half against Texas at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, September 7, 2024. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Notre Dame was the most notable program to do so after the Irish though they were unfairly left out of the playoff and therefore shut their season down after receiving that news.

But for the Wolverines and Longhorns, despite their seasons not going perfectly to plan, neither one considered opting out of a chance to play in the postseason.

Here's why:

Why Michigan is playing in the Citrus Bowl

For head coach Sherrone Moore, playing against a big time opponent like Texas is part of the reason why players choose to come play for the Wolverines, Moore explained on a call on Sunday.

Michigan did have the opportunity to play Texas earlier in the year last season, a game that the Longhorns came out on top in by a score of 31-12.

But to have the opportunity to play them again is another chance, in Moore's eyes, to compete and focus on development.

"I mean, I think another opportunity to go play football, especially against a great opponent on a great stage, is just another opportunity and why you come to these places like this," Moore said. "So for us, it felt like it was important, not only for the development of our coaches and our players, but just the development of the program, right? And what you get to do, and it's a reward to be able to go do things like that. You know, it's nice, it's about 20 degrees here too. So going to Orlando would be nice for the week, not only for the coaches, the coaches' families and the players. So we're really excited about the opportunity that we have to go play in such a high-profile bowl game. And, like you said, you can't speak on everybody else's decision (to opt out), but it's another opportunity for us to go play football and practice and we're really excited about it."

The Wolverines weren't sweating it out on selection Sunday like the Irish were and likely didn't feel the sting of disappointment when their name wasn't called as one of the 12 playoff teams, but even after the OSU loss, Moore was already talking to reporters about the opportunity to get 10 wins this season with a young team, which is something the team is focusing on.

Why Texas accepted invite to the Citrus Bowl

The Longhorns were in a slightly different position than Michigan by season's end. Even though both teams finished with the same record overall, Texas' resume was strong in the sense that it had wins over multiple ranked teams, whereas the Wolverines lost to all of the ranked teams on their schedule.

Even though the Longhorns likely only had an outside shot of being selected as a playoff team, coach Steve Sarkisian made his case as to why his team should be a part of the playoff.

However, when things didn't go the Longhorns way on Sunday, they never considered opting out of a bowl game as Sarkisian said playing in the Citrus Bowl will still be a great opportunity for his team.

"We felt like if we didn’t get into the CFP being right on the cusp, we would have an opportunity to go to really good bowl game,” Sarkisian told the media. “You think about the long-standing history of the Citrus Bowl with a quality opponent being in Michigan coming out of the Big Ten, that this was going to be a great opportunity for us, for our players, for our team. When you really look at our guys last year, we didn’t get the bowl experience at all. When you go to the playoffs coming right out of the SEC Championship game, we didn’t get the bowl experience at all."

"I think that part of playing college football is getting some of that bowl experience. If we could have earned a bye, we could have had a little different experience, but we didn’t. So, I want our guys to enjoy this. I feel like it is the right thing for us to do for a lot of reasons. I don’t know about the ripple effect for everybody. I think we all have goals and aspirations of winning conference championships and being national champions. At least, we do, but I also think that there is an experience factor in all of this. There is growth in all this. There is development in all this. There is camaraderie. There is so much that goes into this that sometimes a bowl game is about celebrating a season and finishing a season the right way."

"Where it goes from here, I don't think anybody really knows."

I asked Steve Sarkisian if Texas considered opting out of its bowl game. He said UT did not.

Why the Longhorns want to play - and what impact Notre Dame's decision to opt out could have on college football.… pic.twitter.com/mHZDj9hyrq
— Bob Ballou (@BobBallouSports) December 7, 2025

Where do non-playoff bowl games go from here?

There are certainly many in the college football world that believe bowl games will become obsolete, especially if the playoff expands to include more teams in the future.

That would be a shame for programs that may not get to experience the playoff on a year-to-year basis but can still be provided a great experience that many of the bowl games provide for student-athletes, coaches and their families.

For the time being, it is nice to see two storied programs such as Michigan and Texas respecting the game by putting forth an effort to compete one last time in the 2025. Maybe they can lead by example for future programs who may find themselves in the same position.

— Sign up for the Michigan Daily Digest newsletter for more free coverage fromMichigan Wolverines on SI —

Sherrone Moore gives update on defensive captain who missed last 2 games

Audio leak of alleged players meeting reveals Penn State AD ripping Michigan