We’re only through week two of the 2026 college football season, and already, the College Football Playoff picture has received a significant shake-up.
One of the preseason favorites, the Oregon Ducks, suffered a shocking loss on the road to Oklahoma State, in a game where they gave up 554 yards defensively and an incredible 237 yards on the ground. To a team that had lost 12 games in a row heading into Saturday.
Oklahoma suffered a substantial blow to its hopes of getting an at-large playoff spot after losing on the road to a 1-0* Michigan team that spent the week getting buried by national media. And of course, the game of the week, maybe the game of the season, turned in the most shocking result of the weekend. Not so much for the outcome, but how it happened.
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The Texas Longhorns completed a miraculous comeback over the Ohio State Buckeyes in Austin, with a season-defining 24-23 win. With an extremely tough schedule on tap, it gave the Longhorns some breathing room for a potential playoff berth, and one of the best resume boosters any team can or will have for 2026.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian has received some well-deserved praise for how he handled the second half. Instead of playing not to be blown out, Sark coached like he was trying to win a game, even in his own territory. Twice, he went it for on fourth and long, including a fourth and nine from the Texas 42-yard-line late in the third quarter. Twice, the Longhorns were successful.
Coaching with urgency allowed Texas to get back in the game, and eventually win it. After the win, Sarkisian took a bit of a victory lap, blasting other programs for scheduling cupcake opponents while the Longhorns hosted Ohio State.
“We could be like other teams and play Jones Junior High and win 66-0,” he told reporters. “I don’t know what that does for us. Tonight we found out that we can (win big games).”
That’s great, the Longhorns-Buckeyes game was college football at its best. Two historic blue blood programs, squaring off on campus and not at Mercedes-Benz Stadium or some other unaffiliated NFL venue. It gave Arch Manning a signature moment in Austin, demonstrated that Texas, despite their obvious flaws and mistakes during the game, is still dangerous and capable of winning a championship.
It’s also a complete 180 from how Sarkisian was talking about the game after last season.
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For a quick refresher, the Longhorns missed out on a spot in the College Football Playoff in the 2025-2026 regular season because they finished 9-3 and there were more deserving teams ahead of them. Texas lost on the road to Ohio State early in the season, sure, but also lost to a dismal 4-8 Florida team, were blown out by the Georgia Bulldogs, and struggled to close overtime wins against bad Kentucky and Mississippi State teams.
After beating Texas A&M to finish the regular season, Sark went ballistic on the selection committee.
“It would be a disservice to our sport if this team is not a playoff team when we went and scheduled that non-conference game (Ohio State),” he said in an interview. “Because if we’re a 10-2 team, it’s not a question. But, we were willing to go play that game. So, is that what college football is about? Don’t play anybody and just have a good record, or play the best and put the best teams in the playoff. And, we’re one of the best teams.”
There’s a problem with that, obviously, which is that the Longhorns weren’t left out because they lost to Ohio State by seven points. They were left out because they lost to 4-8 Florida and struggled with Kentucky and Mississippi State. Objective, analytics and efficiency driven ranking systems like ESPN’s SP+ put the Longhorns at No. 22 in the final rankings before the playoff selection. That’s why they were left out of the playoff, they didn’t deserve to be included.
As a result of this abhorrent “disservice,” Sark went off about scheduling teams like Ohio State. In December 2025, he said he would “re-evaluate” future schedules because he didn’t believe tougher strength of schedule was properly rewarded.
Now? He’s pounding his chest over playing Ohio State instead of an FCS team, because the Longhorns won. Had they lost, and finished the season 9-3 and missed out again, he’d be complaining.
To be fair to him and the Longhorns, it’s a tricky balancing act, weighing schedules. Because, on the one hand, both teams can and should be credited for playing this game. On the other hand, Sark is essentially arguing that the outcome shouldn’t matter. Winning or losing is irrelevant, because credit for scheduling it should come first. That’s effectively what he said on Monday, per The Athletic.
“Quite frankly, Ohio State should be rewarded for playing in this game against us, and so that’s my goal,” Sarkisian said. “Time will tell, you know. And this isn’t crying over spilled milk. I don’t think we got rewarded for going to Columbus last year in Week 1.”
We all want more games like this, but if there are no stakes, no reward based on performance and outcome, what’s the point? What might make sense is some concrete criteria, a combination of forward-looking efficiency ratings, and strength of resume rankings, along with human evaluation of that combination, to pick the playoff teams. At least then subjectivity would be diminished, there would be more rewards for playing tough schedules, and Sark would have less to complain about after his undeserving team isn’t selected.
But that makes too much sense for college football, so don’t expect any changes anytime soon.
