Right now, the Texas Longhorns are well on their way to a return to trip to the College Football Playoff, even with two losses to unranked opponents (four wins over ranked opponents will do that for you).
All that's left are three games: one away game against the No. 14 LSU Tigers, a home game against the old-time rival Arkansas Razorbacks, and a trip right down the road to face the Texas A&M Aggies.
While the Horns could metaphorically afford to lose one of those games, especially the upcoming matchup against LSU, they shouldn't accept that as their fate, and head coach Steve Sarkisian should lead Texas into Death Valley with the full intent of throwing everything he's got into the game.
The Tigers are Texas's final ranked opponent of the regular season, giving Texas one final opportunity to cement their place in the CFP, barring any truly shocking upsets in the final two games of the year.
However, as a game that the Horns could technically afford to lose with their already incredibly strong resume, one could argue that Sarkisian may want to rest a few of his stars, especially players who have already been a bit banged up, like edge rusher Colin Simmons, wide receivers Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo, and defensive tackle Hero Kanu.
Longhorns can "rest" in Weeks 12 and 13, not against the LSU Tigers
Yet, with two weeks between the Texas-LSU game and the end of the regular season, not to mention the additional week before the SEC Championship game (if the Horns made it in), and then the subsequent time before the CFP kicks off, why not rest your players against the significantly inferior teams remaining on your schedule?
That's what I would do, at the very least.
Sure, Arkansas and Texas A&M are both long-time rivals of the Longhorns, but neither team has posed much of a threat since the season began.
Not to mention that if Texas wants to come out on top of the Tigers, Sarkisian will need his veteran players and leaders to step up to the task of (1) shutting down the dynamic LSU offense and (2) blowing past the dominant LSU defense.
After the game against LSU, regardless of the outcome, Sarkisian will be able to lighten the load for his stars; that's almost an undeniable fact. However, for now, he needs to make sure his team is as close to 100% availability as possible as they head to Baton Rouge.
Plus, how sweet would it be to ruin the Tigers' season in Lane Kiffin first year as LSU's head coach? Especially after people were pointing the finger at Sarkisian as the SEC coach who "couldn't win the big games."
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