Could Texas Be 'Playoff Crashers' This Season?

Even among the nation's best, there's always room for one surprise team to make its way into the College Football Playoff

A 5-7 season under coach Steve Sarkisian a year ago doesn't exactly scream College Football Playoff implications for the Texas Longhorns headed into the 2022-2023 season. But in a game that has been transformed by the transfer portal and NIL, a surprise team can have a chance at "crashing" into the final four teams remaining.

Texas football

Steve Sarkisian

Steve Sarkisian

247Sports formed a list of 10 potential teams that could "crash the playoff in 2022." The Longhorns were included along with Houston, Wake Forest, Baylor, BYU, USC, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Oregon, and Wisconsin.

The Longhorns will soon be on their way to the SEC, a conference that many expect Texas to struggle in. Sarkisian's experience coaching with an SEC powerhouse like Alabama certainly aids in that transition, but he knows the Longhorns need to adopt their own winning identity in order to find success.

"There's a lot of great aspects of [Alabama] that I think we can take with us, but naturally, we have to do the things I'm comfortable doing and doing it the way that best suits us," Sarkisian said at Big 12 coaches meetings earlier this month. "There's great coaches in the SEC, there's really good players, there's big people, there's fast people. We've got to assemble a really good staff, which I think we've done. We've got to recruit on a really high level, which I think that we've shown that we can do. And then ultimately get those players big enough, faster and stronger."

The Longhorns open up the season at home vs Louisiana Monroe on Sept. 3 before welcoming Alabama to Austin the following week on Sept. 10.

Zach Boyden-Holmes, The Des Moines Regional

Bijan Robinson

© Nelson Chenault, USA TODAY

Bijan Robinson (left) and Steve Sarkisian

Xavier Worthy

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