Talk about a win to remember for the Texas Longhorns and head man Steve Sarkisian. While everyone outside of Austin thought that the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies would cruise to a win, the opposite turned out to be the case. In a bit of a surprise, Texas stunned Mike Elko and Co. with a 27-17 win.
3 massive observations from Texas shocking Texas A&M in Austin
In the second half, the Longhorns dominated and the Aggies offense couldn't do much of anything right. After the final whistle, Sark caught up with Molly McGrath and he didn't hesitate in making it clear that he felt Texas sent a statement. Despite being a three-loss team, have the Longhorns done enough to be in the College Football Playoff? Absolutely, the Texas HC said.
Steve Sarkisian was adamant after beating A&M that Texas belongs in the CFP
"If you really look at the body of work and you look at the Southeastern Conference and what we have to go through every week, look at the non-conference schedule we play to go to Ohio State in Week 1 and lose by seven and we outgained them by nearly 200 yards - we have a really good football team," Sark said. "It'd be a disservice to our sport if this team's not a playoff team when we went and scheduled that non-conference game. Because if we're a 10-2 team, it's not a question, but we were willing to go and play that game (at Ohio State). So, is that what college football's about? Don't play anybody and just have a good record or play the best and put the best teams in the playoff? We're one of the best teams."
The veteran head coach dropped the mic there and it's hard to argue with him. Texas could have avoided playing Ohio State, scheduled a cupcake non-conference opponent and be 10-2 instead of 9-3. With a 10-2 record, there's no question they'd be CFP-bound.
Instead, that loss to Ohio State to open the season could actually be what prevents them from being among the final 12 teams in contention to battle for the natty. Would that be fair for Sark, Arch Manning and the rest of the Texas players? Probably not.
However, it's all going to come down to what the committee thinks is right. Prior to the win over A&M, the Longhorns were checking in at No. 16 in the CFP rankings. Now, though, they have this huge win over the Aggies on their resume. Will it be enough for them to leap other teams ahead of them for an at-large bid? We'll find out soon enough, but Sarkisian didn't hold back with his thoughts there.