The 2025 Texas football season was supposed to be the year. Starting the season as the No. 1-ranked team in the country, expectations for the Longhorns were championship-level high. Yet, a season that began with such promise has been marred by tough losses, leaving fans and analysts asking a thorny question: Has Texas underachieved?
The immediate season opener set a difficult tone, with Texas dropping a hard-fought game against Ohio State. Head coach Steve Sarkisian’s squad showed grit, however, climbing back into the AP Top 10 with impressive wins over rivals like the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners and the then No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores. This resurgence proved to be short-lived. The crushing 35-10 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs effectively dashed the team’s College Football Playoff hopes, a monumental blow for a program with aspirations of returning to the national elite.
Despite the painful loss and the seemingly diminished outlook, Sarkisian is firmly resisting the narrative that this season has been a disappointment. When pressed on the team’s perceived underachievement, his quick retort, “According to who?”, set the stage for a fiery defense of his players and their efforts.
Sarkisian emphasized the sheer difficulty of their schedule and the resilience his team has shown. “This team has competed their tail off,” he stated, pointing to the numerous adversities and injuries the team has faced. The veteran coach grounded his argument in the harsh reality of playing for a program like Texas, where the standard is to compete for championships year in and year out.
The Schedule Speaks for Itself
The core of Sarkisian’s defense lies in the quality of their opponents. By the end of the regular season, a staggering five of Texas’s 12 regular-season opponents will have been top-10 teams when they played them. This means nearly half their schedule was against elite competition.
> “We’re going to play the best teams in the country. We’re going to schedule the best teams in the country,” Sarkisian asserted.
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He further highlighted the historical significance of their potential wins, pointing out that Texas has the opportunity to be the first team since the 2019 LSU Tigers to defeat three top-10 ranked opponents in the regular season. This is a monumental achievement, regardless of the two losses.
Yes, the initial No. 1 ranking raises the bar to an almost unreachable height, and any outcome short of a playoff bid will feel like a letdown to some. However, Sarkisian successfully shifts the focus from an outcome to the process and the level of competition. “Have we been faced with a pretty difficult schedule? Have we been faced with expectations? Sure, but that’s why we came here,” he concluded.
The Longhorns still have a chance to add a significant silver lining, with the opportunity to defeat Arkansas and then shock the world against the No. 3-ranked Texas A&M Aggies in the regular-season finale. While not the perfect season Texas nation dreamed of, the Longhorns’ fight against one of the toughest schedules in the nation provides a powerful counter-argument to the claim of underachievement. It’s a testament to the fact that sometimes, success is measured not just by final records, but by the battles fought along the way.