Steve Sarkisian Admits He's 'Not Comfortable' With Texas Longhorns Schedule

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian isn't holding back how he feels about his team's schedule structure this season.

While meeting with the media on Zoom ahead of the matchup against the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Sarkisian admitted that he's "not comfortable" with the way Texas' schedule is laid out compared to other SEC teams.

"No, I'm not comfortable," Sarkisian said. "I don't think there's enough continuity from a scheduling standpoint in the SEC."

Why Steve Sarkisian Isn't Happy With Current Schedule

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian observes the second half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Sarkisian's displeasure stems from the late-season structure of Texas' schedule. While Texas has to close out the regular season with three conference games, other teams like Georgia, Texas A&M, Alabama, Ole Miss and others get to host non-conference games, often against FCS opponents, before heading into postseason action.

"I understand with us being new to the conference and how schedules get set earlier years in advance, but I just think there's some distinct advantages that some people have, where they spread out their non-conference games throughout the season, and they play non conference games the second last game of the season, and we're playing all of ours in the front end," Sarkisian said.

"They're playing conference games earlier in the year when their team is 100 healthy," Sarkisian continued. "And so I don't love our schedule, but it's our schedule. And so I do love it in the same breath, because it is what it is. You play the schedule, you play the hand you're dealt. But I just don't think there's a lot of parity from a scheduling standpoint of who's getting non-conference games when, and who's getting what level of non-conference opponents, because of the impact that it has down the road when you start talking about the playoffs."

The Longhorns began their season with a road loss at Ohio State before hosting San Jose State, UTEP and Sam Houston State. These matchups are generally seen as automatic wins on the schedule when the season begins, and aside from the 27-10 win over UTEP, Texas cruised to easy victories in each of their remaining three non-con games after the loss in Columbus.

But elsewhere in the conference, teams like Ole Miss and Georgia got to play SEC games within the first three weeks of the season, giving them a slight edge from a health perspective by potentially adding an early conference win to the standings when the team is not bruised up by wear and tear.

Texas' Future Opponents

Texas Longhorns helmet on the sideline during the first quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

To Sarkisian's point, Texas can't do much about its early-season schedule in the coming seasons.

Here are the teams that Texas currently has on its future non-conference schedule, with each occurring in the first three weeks of the season:

2026: Texas State, Ohio State, UTSA
2027: New Mexico State, Michigan, UTEP
2028: Louisiana Tech, at Notre Dame, UTSA
2029: ULM, UTEP, Notre Dame