After Texas upset Texas A&M in the regular season finale, head coach Steve Sarkisian made something of an overture as to why the Longhorns should be included in the College Football Playoff, despite three losses. And given that was the biggest win of the season to that point, for any team, it made sense.
However, it didn’t shake out that way for the three-loss Texas team, and now the Longhorns are set for a rematch against Michigan in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl after having played the Wolverines in Ann Arbor in Week 2 last year.
While some teams lament their status of not making the CFP (Notre Dame declined to play in the postseason after not making the 12-team invitational), Sarkisian is embracing the idea of playing a team like Michigan, for multiple reasons.
It’s an honor, a privilege to be part of the cheese at Citrus Bowl against a great opponent in Michigan,” Sarkisian said. “Someone that we have some — having played them last year to start the season, and we’re set to play them to start the ’27 season. The opportunity to play a quality opponent like them for a team to extend our season is one that we’re looking forward to.”
Of course, he hasn’t exactly had much time to scout the Wolverines, but his cursory knowledge indicates what he believes he has to prepare for.
“I think I think it’s one, it’s the quality of the opponent,” Sarkisian said. “We’re playing a Michigan team that won five of their last six games. They’ve got elite players. They’ve got a fantastic young quarterback who got better as the season went on. They’ve got a really good young runner. They’ve got talented, really good schemes on both sides of the ball — we know that from facing them a year ago.
And so I think what it does, it raises the competitive level for some of our younger players and an opportunity to play them and to get them in the game, but also some players that have been developing as the season’s gone on.”
Michigan and Texas will kick off in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on December 31 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando at 3 p.m. EST with the game set to be broadcast on ABC.
