Steve Sarkisian reacts to Texas' CFP matchup against 'familiar' Washington team

The College Football Playoff field is officially set with Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama set to do battle to decide a 2023 national champion.

There’s plenty of drama and intrigue with the mere selection of Alabama and especially with their matchup against Michigan. But on the other side, a unique undefeated power conference champ in Washington gets set to face Big 12 champion Texas. For head coach Steve Sarkisian, this is a foe he’s quite familiar with.

For starters, the Huskies and Longhorns faced off in the postseason a year ago as well, though that matchup did not take place in the playoff. Plus, Sarkisian has his own personal ties to Washington since he earned his first head coaching gig with UW.

“Kind of ironic, I think, in the sense of Washington still holds a special sense for me,” Sarkisian said. “I got my first head coaching opportunity there and had five tremendous years in trying to rebuild that program. And ironically, we played them in the Alamo Bowl a year ago and I think there’s some familiarity there.”

Steve Sarkisian certainly helped build Washington into a nationally contending program, one that would eventually make their first College Football Playoff in 2016 under Chris Petersen. Now, they’re back under a new coach and Sarkisian had nothing but compliments for the Huskies program.

“What Coach [Kalen] DeBoer has been able to do, and what they’ve been able to do over the last couple of seasons, has really been a tremendous run. They’ve got a heck of a team,” Sarkisian said.

He sees a great team on both sides of the ball that will make for an electric matchup in their semifinal game.

“Really talented offense. They’re running the ball extremely well right now with Dillon Johnson. And they’re playing really good defense,” Sarkisian said of Washington. “We know we’re going to need this extra preparation to get ourselves prepared to play it, but our kids our excited. Any time you get an opportunity to play a team the quality of Washington — undefeated team, Pac-12 champion — it’s a great challenge, but one we’re looking forward to.”

Washington comes into the contest 13-0 and Pac-12 champions after toppling Oregon for the second time this season to give UW a fourth top-20 win of the season by the CFP rankings. Meanwhile, Texas comes in with three wins against teams ranked in the final CFP top 25: at Alabama, home vs. Kansas State and then in the Big 12 title game against Oklahoma State.

With two great quarterbacks surrounded by stellar overall rosters, Huskies vs. ‘Horns ought to be all kinds of fun on the field.