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The end of the perfect champion? Steve Sarkisian thinks so

by:RT Young•05/28/25
CFP trophy on the left and BCS

College football’s most legendary champions have an aura of invincibility associated with them. Texas fans know the feeling when they reminisce on the 1963, 1969, and 2005 teams. The 2001 Miami Hurricanes, 2004 USC Trojans and 2019 LSU Tigers are a part of the same mythos as well. Those teams are all remembered as perfect, even if that belief is clouded by nostalgia. The format of college football in the eras of those champions allowed the idea of an immortal champion to grow. But that’s what fans do – we mythologize. And the fact all those teams were unblemished, with no zero in the loss column, allowed the belief to stay alive.

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But, according to Steve Sarkisian, those days are over. It’s something we need to “wrap our brain around.” Sarkisian said yesterday at SEC spring meetings that he didn’t “know if we’ll ever see an undefeated champion again. If we do, that’s a really good team. Because it’s just so difficult.”

More than the quality of opponents Texas faces in the SEC, his reasoning was the sheer number of games a champion would need to go through. “Last year we played 16 games and that was just to get to the semifinals. We would have been 17 to win a championship.”

Those are NFL numbers. And the 1972 Miami Dolphins pop champagne bottles every year for a reason.

I think the amount of games the Longhorns played last year did a number on Sark. He saw in one year, with the transition to a 12-team playoff, the calendar go from one that still mostly looked like college football to one which resembles the NFL. And that calendar is one filled with rigors that test your depth. Now, having the best starters or simply the best player won’t make a champion. 

“Do you have the depth to endure?” Sarkisian asked yesterday. His actions over the spring show he’s tried to address that notion.

He made adjustments to the program’s calendar to fall in line with the new realities: no spring game. He also brought in five defensive tackle transfers and bolstered the wide receiving corps with Emmett Mosley V and Jack Endries at tight end. Arch Manning might have moments where he looks like Vince Young in 2005, but Sarkisian knows that there will be attrition. Depth is just as important as heroism.

Now, fans will have to get used to the fact our champions will most likely have a blemish or two on their résumé. They may hoist the trophy in a season where they lost to an archrival in a game we want to forget. Just look at Ohio State and Michigan from last year. In a way, it’s nice that perfection will no longer be required. It’s who can endure the chaos, injuries and setbacks that such a long season will bring.

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It will take getting used to as a fan, wrapping our minds around a champion who we perceive as imperfect. But we’ll find new ways to turn teams into legends. Where we once heroized our champions for their perfection, now we’ll do it for their grit and resilience.

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