The notion that Texas HC Steve Sarkisian is bad on the road needs to be laid to rest

With a trip to play the Tennessee Volunteers flying into focus, the Texas Longhorns' record on the road has become a point of conversation over the last few days. More specifically, head coach Steve Sarkisian's record in away games has been stressed.

Most recently, on CBS Sports' Cover 3 Podcast, hosts Chip Patterson, Bud Elliott, Tom Fornelli, and Danny Kanell went as far as to say that "Texas has been legitimately bad on the road under Sark."

Well, let's break that down and see just how much truth it holds... if any at all.

Over the last two years, since joining the SEC, the Horns have gone 6-4 on the road, with all three losses coming to opponents ranked in the top five: the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs in 2024, and then the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes and No. 5 (once again) Georgia in 2025. The only unranked loss came at Florida in 2025.

The six wins include three ranked opponents in 2024: the No. 10 Michigan Wolverines, the No. 25 Vanderbilt Commodores, and the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies.

Keep in mind, these were the first two years that the Longhorns had ever been in the SEC, and were the first times Sarkisian and this program had played on the road in locations like Mississippi State and Kentucky, where the Horns secured victories, no matter how messy they were.

Texas has also gone 4-2 at neutral-site games, including two straight victories in the Red River Rivalry (holding the Oklahoma Sooners touchdownless), a win over the Arizona State Sun Devils in the 2024 College Football Playoff quarterfinals, and a win over Michigan in the 2025 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.

One of those two neutral-site losses came against Georgia at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, just an hour and a half from the Bulldogs' home in Athens... For those saying you could make the same argument about Texas and Oklahoma playing their "neutral" game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas every year, it's technically closer to Norman than Austin.

The other neutral-site loss came against the Buckeyes in the 2024 CFP semifinal, when Ohio State went on to win the National Championship game.

Arguing Texas's away-game record as a point for Tennessee misses the point entirely

The reason this topic has become so popular is that the No. 1 Horns are about to visit the No. 14 Volunteers in Tennessee. So, many experts are pointing to Texas's "legitimately bad" away-game record as a reason to have more faith in the Vols.

Well, if we're going to look at it that way, even after disputing the notion that the Horns have been bad on the road, then we also have to look at Tennessee's record at home... which has been worse than Texas's record on the road.

If we take away the cupcake matchups from 2024 and 2025, including the Vols' home-stand victories over Chattanooga, Kent State, UTEP, East Tennessee State, UAB, and New Mexico State, then we are left with 10 home games for Tennessee over the last two years.

In those games, the Vols have gone 5-3, which is fairly respectable when you're going up against big-name programs as you do in the SEC (except Texas has gone undefeated at home over the last two and a half years, but who's counting? Oh, wait, we are).

However, just to start to disqualify that overall record, the Vols didn't play the No. 1-ranked team at home over the last two years. In fact, the highest-ranked team they beat at home was No. 7 Alabama in 2024, losing to No. 6 Georgia one year later.

Furthermore, if you only look at the ranked opponents, Tennessee has gone 1-3 at home, with the only victory being the one over the Crimson Tide two years ago.

To sum all of that up, the initial argument is inaccurate. Texas has been good on the road under Sark, and even if you don't count the wins over Kentucky and Mississippi State, the Horns have still gone 3-2 on the road in conference play.

Then, if you really get into the nuts and bolts, the argument doesn't even apply, because Tennessee has done an even worse job of defending its own home, especially against ranked opponents, much less if any of them were the No. 1 team in the country.

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