Steve Sarkisian Has Longhorns 'On a Mission' to Win Big 12

The Longhorns aren't looking to discuss the 2024 season in the SEC until they win a Big 12 title in 2023 first.

Texas Longhorns fans might have their sights sets on the future of the program playing in the SEC, but Steve Sarkisian and the roster are focused on winning in the present. 

Sarkisian recently joined ESPN's Greg McElroy to discuss all things Longhorns headed into the 2023 season. Conversations surrounding the program mostly have been of the jump to the SEC, a move that will become official on July 1, 2024. 

Sarkisian understands why fans are ready for 2024 to arrive. The Longhorns will play on the biggest stage in an atmosphere second-to-none like it in college football. However, the only way the program can truly set the tone for future endeavors is by winning in the present while still in the Big 12. 

"Our team's on a mission." – @CoachSark 🗣️ @TexasFootball is focused on winning the Big 12 in 2023 and aren't looking ahead to 2024 😤#HookEm | #Texas | #AlwaysCFB pic.twitter.com/S3qfJcQZGx

— Always College Football (@AlwaysCFB) July 5, 2023

“I really feel like our team is on a mission,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve been building for this, to win a Big 12 Championship. They will all tell you we missed an opportunity a year ago to not play for the Big 12 Championship because of our own undoing. We made some mistakes in a couple of games that cost us an opportunity to be in that game, and these guys have been on a mission all winter and all spring.”

Texas made headlines last month after releasing its 2023 schedule hours before the SEC's schedule release for the 2024 season. Sarkisian shared the schedule from his personal Twitter page while countless players retweeted or shared the same graphic on their own accounts."

That wasn't an internal mistake made by management. Sarkisian said players wanted everyone to know who was still in their way from making a trip to Arlington in December for the first time since 2018. 

"We really have a locker room of guys that are believing in what we believe and have really good leadership and are putting forth the necessary effort and means to try and be a champion," Sarkisian said. "That's why they came here. Hopefully, we're giving them the platform and the tools to go do that."

Texas continues to be a force on the recruiting trail entering Sarkisian's third season, but struggles still have hampered the program's persona. The Longhorns finished 5-7 in Year 1 under Sarkisian, including the longest losing streak in four decades during the midseason. A year later, Texas finished 8-5, but losses to Texas Tech and Oklahoma State in September and October kept the team from returning to Jerryworld. 

Christian Jones, a sixth-year senior, is the only player that remains on the roster from the 2018 season when Texas last played for a conference title. McElroy, a graduate of Alabama, was still quarterbacking the Crimson Tide en route to Nick Saban's first of six national titles in Tuscaloosa the last time Texas won the Big 12 in 2009. 

Expectations have skyrocketed for Texas entering its final year in the Big 12. According to Ceaser's Sportsbook, the Longhorns enter July as the preseason favorites to win the division at +125. From a production standpoint, Texas has the little-to-no excuse of winning the conference as it returns nine offensive starters, including quarterback Quinn Ewers, receivers Xavier Worthy and Jordan Whittington and tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders. 

The Longhorns brought back seven defensive starters but were also aggressive in adding defensive talent via the transfer portal, including Wake Forest cornerback Gavin Holmes and Arkansas safety Jalen Catalon. 

Sarkisian has been direct in interviews of Texas' immediate goals rather than long-term ones. The team wants to depart Big 12 with a conference title on one hand, and a potential College Football Playoff berth in the other. The former is more important than the latter, so blocking out the "rat poison" has been a priority for the team all off-season. 

“I try to show both ends of the spectrum,” Sarkisian said. “I can show somebody who says we’re a potential playoff team, and I can show a national reporter who says we have no chance of winning the Big 12 Championship. When I can put both of them on the table or both of them on the overhead side-by-side, it’s really not what anybody else thinks. It’s about what we do and what we believe in this room.”

It's now or never for the Horns in the Big 12. Twelve Saturdays stand in their way for an added 13th date at AT&T Stadium in December. The belief around the program has reached new heights by the fanbase as Sark and the roster prepare for its final go-around. 

Internally, belief has never been a concern. The Longhorns intend to ensure their preseason goals become postseason realities while silencing the critics in the process. 

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