Chris Del Conte vows Texas will play tough opponents 'because we're the best'

Scheduling in college football remains a key topic of conversation in the 12-team College Football Playoff landscape. Some teams are opting for easier strength of schedule – but Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte said the Longhorns want to play the best teams, “because we’re the best.”

Texas is set to start the 2025 season against defending national champion Ohio State, one year after taking on Michigan in Week 2. The Longhorns also announced a home-and-home with Notre Dame in the coming years, as well. Del Conte said another high-profile opponent is also on the way.

That philosophy, Del Conte said, is to help Texas play some of the biggest brands in the sport. He argued it’s not just good for the game, but also for the fans to watch high-quality teams taking on high-quality opponents.

“Our brand – and I firmly believe this – our brand should play the greatest brands in college football because we’re the best,” Del Conte said Wednesday during a town hall. “We’re going to play Ohio State, we’re going to play Michigan, we just signed a home-and-home with Notre Dame. Those games matter. With a 12-game Playoff, those games matter. They matter to me. They should matter to you. You want to play the very best.

“I’m not issuing a cupcake schedule. Our coaches and our student-athletes aren’t. They want to play the very best. But we owe it to college football, we owe it to this organization, to play the very best. That’s what we’re going to continue to do. We just announced Notre Dame a couple weeks ago, and keep your eyes peeled. We’ll have another one. I just don’t want to get too far out.”

Strength of schedule was also a talking point during last week’s SEC-Big Ten meetings, which included discussions about the College Football Playoff. The SEC specifically discussed the idea of moving to a nine-game conference schedule – a topic that floated around last year before the league opted to stay at eight games.

But Del Conte made it clear Wednesday night he’s in favor of going to nine games. His argument stems from the fact Texas plays a neutral site game during league action, and adding another matchup would make it an equal home-road split.

“I prefer nine games,” Del Conte said. “Why? Because we play Oklahoma at a neutral site. So one year, we get four games. One year, we get three. If we had a nine-game schedule, four and four, we’d play our rival at a neutral site.

“It’s like Bengay or an atomic bomb. I’m applying constant heat on this particular subject with our friends in the SEC, that we need a ninth game. We’ll see if that happens, but we’re working towards that.”