It's only a matter of time before Steve Sarkisian wins it all at Texas
When you believe Texas has the right head coach and staff, right university leadership, and overall right direction, big losses are much easier to stomach.
The key to winning a National Championship is having year-in, year-out exposure to the playoffs. It’s not often in any sport that a fly-by-night team shows up to win it all out of nowhere before receding to their historical standard. TCU making the finals before getting obliterated by Georgia is the closest I can recall this century.
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Two years in a row Texas has had exposure to winning a National Championship. Each year it fell short of the championship game by literal inches.
During the end of the offseason before 2023 kicked off it was written that if Texas was back, it wouldn’t happen on the field. It actually happened during the offseason when the players were working out and being developed. The season would simply prove they were back. That it did.
If you thought 2023 was a one-off, as many rival fans did, you weren’t paying attention. Winning big in college football is about being on a good, experienced, deep, and talented roster cycle. Texas won 13 games this season last offseason when it retained Quinn Ewers, Alfred Collins, and Jahdae Barron while also adding Matthew Golden, Trey Moore, Jermayne Lole, Silas Bolden, and a handful of others.
While Texas still has roster needs to address this offseason, notably at wide receiver, defensive tackle, and offensive line, it will be on a strong roster cycle once again.
Arch Manning still lacks experience but not time under tension within the program. And he did gain experience this season while filling in for Quinn Ewers.
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Colin Simmons and Anthony Hill are Vitruvian Men for their position. Simmons will ultimately become a top 10 draft pick. Hill will be a first-rounder even if the NFL devalues linebackers in the draft.
Ryan Wingo has top 10 draft ability.
Those are just the elite, elite.
Texas will likely have the best Edge room in the country for 2025.
Assuming Michael Taaffe returns, which is not certain, Texas could yet again have the best secondary in the country. Jelani McDonald is an elite talent. Forget Malik Muhammad‘s struggles against Clemson and Arizona State. He’s played a lot of football; we know who he is. Derek Williams will return from injury. Kobe Black flashed this season. Jaylon Guilbeau will be even more experienced at a difficult position to play.
Having strong pass rush coupled with strong coverage provides a massive lift and high floor for a defense. Texas will have both.
Questions abound on offense but the key to me is as much schematic as it is personnel-driven. Can Sark get back to his preference of inside zone married to play-action passing? Well…Arch throws bombs so there’s one half of the equation. The other half will depend on finding the right mix and match on offensive line and a running back attuned to running between the tackles. When has Sark ever failed to address personnel issues?
Sark is going to win it all at Texas and it just might be next year. He just has to give himself another bite of the apple.
