Steve Sarkisian Isn't Ending the Texas Tech Schedule Conversation Just Yet

In somewhat refreshing fashion, the Texas Longhorns and Texas Tech Red Raiders have rekindled their rivalry away the from the field this offseason. And Steve Sarkisian is to thank.

The back-and-forth trash talk between fans on social media has also included some of the top voices in the Texas Tech football program. The Red Raiders have even gone as far to say that they want to alter the schedule and play Texas the first game of the season, and it all stems from Sarkisian's comments that took a shot at Texas Tech's non-conference slate for 2026.

While it still appears very unlikely that Texas would be willing to add Texas Tech to their non-conference schedule at this point in the summer, Sarkisian isn't stopping the conversation about why he mentioned the Red Raiders poor strength of schedule in the first place.

Steve Sarkisian: Juice Might Not Be Worth the Squeeze

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian looks on prior to a game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

During a recent appearance on Always College Football with Greg McElroy, Sarkisian spoke at length about the point he was trying to make when he took a subtle jab at Texas Tech's schedule strength.

As he's mentioned before, Sarkisian, after a question from McElroy directly about Texas Tech, pointed out that some elite programs don't play a strong enough non-conference slate. This leads to more wins and potentially a better chance of making the College Football Playoff, something the Red Raiders have a good chance of doing once again with a non-con slate of Abilene Christian, Oregon State and Sam Houston.

"If the juice isn't worth the squeeze at the end, that's a big risk that we all are deciding to take to play that game, and so we are," Sarkisian said. "I'm already playing, as I told you, eight ranked top 20 ranked teams this fall, and one of those eight is Ohio State out of conference. ... and then I can look across the country and look at some other team schedules and say they're not playing one (ranked team), not one. And so the path for them to make the playoffs is just a little bit easier."

Sarkisian made it clear he understands Texas should have handled its business in losses to Georgia, Ohio State and Florida but now feels the program has no choice but to alter their future schedules in order to give themselves an equal chance at the CFP as a team like Texas Tech.

"You can play, like us, five top 10 ranked teams, and go 3-2, and be left out of the playoffs. And granted, you could say, "Sure, we should have beaten Florida," I understand all that, or we should have won at Ohio State, or won at Georgia. I get all that."

Texas will have a ton of challenges in front of it in order to make the CFP next season and in 2027, but changes to the non-conference schedule could be made beyond that if total losses is all that determines a spot in the bracket.

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