247Sports tabs Texas football amid programs under most pressure in 2023

With the start of the 2023 season a little over one month away, the excitement is building around a promising campaign for the Texas football program. Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian have high expectations heading into the fall, as they were picked atop the media’s Big 12 preseason poll.

Texas is also being picked by many to be a contender for the College Football Playoff this season. One of the outlets that picked Texas to make the Playoff this offseason is 247Sports.

Some 247Sports writers also believe the Longhorns are under a lot of pressure heading into the 2023 season because of the aforementioned high expectations this fall. Brad Crawford of 247Sports mentioned Texas among the “college football programs under varying levels of pressure” ahead of the 2023 season.

Texas football mentioned as a program under pressure in 2023

Crawford believes that Sark and the Longhorns need to capitalize on this opportunity to get back to double-digit wins and finish atop the Big 12 ahead of the move to the SEC in 2024.

"Now, Texas hasn’t won the Big 12 since 2009 and Sarkisian’s job becomes increasingly more difficult in 2024 when the Longhorns officially join the SEC and the schedule becomes a weekly gauntlet. Making good on this chance to finish inside the top 10 in 2023 is a must for all parties on the Forty Acres."

It is a fair point to say that the Longhorns must make the most of this opportunity to finally get a Big 12 title before the move to the SEC next year. This will probably be Sark’s best chance to get into the four-team College Football Playoff field and win a conference title in the next few years.

Texas has a manageable conference schedule, with only one game coming on the road against in the top 30 of the ESPN preseason FPI. That lone road conference game against a preseason top-30 team in the FPI is in Fort Worth on Nov. 11 against the TCU Horned Frogs.

Compare that to next season when Texas has to face the defending back-to-back National Champion Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators at home, and then face the Texas A&M Aggies and Arkansas Razorbacks in the SEC. You can see why this fall is such a big opportunity for the Longhorns in the Big 12.

Texas tabbed as one of a handful of Big 12 programs under pressure to succeed in 2023

The other two Big 12 programs mentioned in this 247Sports article as being under pressure in 2023 were the Oklahoma Sooners and West Virginia Mountaineers. Oklahoma is on here for a similar reason to Texas since it needs to take advantage of its easier schedule in the Big 12 before it has a gauntlet week in and week out in the SEC in 2024.

West Virginia is under pressure because head coach Neal Brown is on the hot seat, looking to save his job with an improved result in the win column this fall.