Sarkisian on Texas’ CFP case: Finest win in country

Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff WriterOct 30, 2023, 03:14 PM ET Close Dave Wilson is an editor for ESPN.com considering that 2010. He formerly operated at The Dallas Morning News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun.Texas coach Steve Sarkisian

took an opportunity with the first College Football Playoff rankings on the horizon to make a case for his Longhorns on Monday. “I’ve avoided this,” Sarkisian stated when asked about his thoughts on the rankings being unveiled Tuesday night.” I ‘d argue we have the best win in the country today. The truth that we enter into Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and beat a team that was 52-1 in the previous 53 games of us going in there … “I hear so much about how hard the SEC is, however I have not seen any of those

teams go in Alabama and win, either, so I feel pretty good about our group. “Texas is No. 7 in the AP poll and 7-1 on the season with a 34-30 loss to No. 10 Oklahoma as its only blemish.The Longhorns are coming off a 35-6 win over BYU on Saturday despite losing starting quarterback Quinn Ewers two weeks ago to a shoulder injury. Redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy was 16-of-25 for 170 backyards and two touchdowns with one interception versus the Cougars.Editor’s Picks< img src ="https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/photo/2023/1029/r1245577_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center"

width =”65″height =”65″/ > “We’re a really versatile team,” Sarkisian stated, highlighting the defense, which didn’t allow a touchdown, and the special groups after Xavier Worthy returned a punt for a goal on Saturday. “I believe the truth that we started our backup quarterback versus a 5-2 group and won 35-6 and we get another chance this weekend to play with our backup quarterback … you know, not every group out there has needed to endure a few of the things that we’ve needed to. If they had to play with their backup, how would they play? However I believe it speaks to the type of team that we have.”

Sarkisian stated No. 25 Kansas State, which is heading to Austin this weekend to deal with Texas, is an example of the depth of the Huge 12. The Wildcats are 7-2 with two road losses to Missouri and Oklahoma State by a combined 11 points, have won their previous 2 games over TCU and Houston by a combined rating of 82-3 and rank in the leading 15 nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense.

“As the league is beginning to bear itself out, we’re beginning to discover that I think our league is probably a little more powerful than people offered it credit for in early September,” Sarkisian stated. “And there’s a lot of groups playing truly great football, and possibly some of these other leagues aren’t quite as strong as people were providing credit for at the start of the year. … Our league is tough. You’ve got to make certain that your group is ready to play because as we’re learning there’s a great deal of groups that have an opportunity to compete for a championship game in November.”

Sarkisian stated Ewers is still week-to-week and that Murphy will start once again this weekend. After Kansas State, the Longhorns have consecutive road games at TCU and Iowa State before returning home to deal with Texas Tech on Nov. 24.

“In time this entire thing will play itself out,” Sarkisian said of the playoff race. “So we have actually got to concentrate on what we need to do Saturday and play our best football.”