Why Texas' Ohio State Win Should Terrify the Rest of the SEC

The Texas Longhorns sent a statement in their 24-23 win over Ohio State on Saturday, and it’s not just because they knocked the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. Or even for the fact that the come-from-behind win will go down as arguably the biggest of Steve Sarkisian’s tenure to this point.

Rather, the performance and how Texas went about winning the game on Saturday should really scare the rest of the SEC as the Longhorns get set to open conference play.

Breaking the Trend

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian watches during the NCAA football game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas on Sept. 12, 2026. Texas won 24-23. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

It’s been well documented just how unprecedented the Longhorns’ comeback was. The 23-3 deficit marked the largest comeback in a game between a pair of top-five ranked teams since 1995, while also making Ohio State the first No. 1 ranked team to lose a game after leading by 20 points or more since 2004.

That win wasn’t supposed to happen, given Texas's history against top-five opponents under Sarkisian. Until the clock struck triple zeros, Sarkisian boasted just one win over opponents in the top-five in six attempts.

Coming into the season, Ohio State and Georgia were his two biggest issues; despite repeated matchups against both, he had never gotten his team over the hump against either.

Then as the game that many deemed the biggest “must-win” of Sarkisian’s tenure on the Forty Acres, couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start he managed to show some “Texas fight.”

While the offense floundered, as the ball literally didn’t bounce Texas’s way with drops, an interception, and a fumble, the defense stepped up.

Will Muschamp’s unit held the Buckeyes to just a field goal in the second half, buying the offense time to figure out its woes, as the Longhorns exited the halftime locker room already on the brink, trailing by three scores.

After leaning on the defense for three quarters, Sarkisian’s offense found the switch and flipped it in the fourth quarter. Sarkisian engineered three straight touchdown drives, all of them with at least 12 plays.

After being known for leading an offense at its best with explosives, Sarkisian showed his team can win in a phone booth. Texas wore down Ohio State’s defense in the fourth quarter with its ground game and delivered the decisive blow with a Hollywood Smothers’ goal-line touchdown with under a minute remaining in regulation.

After an offseason focused on physicality, Texas won the toughness battle in a game where things hadn’t gone their way.

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