Future scheduling of non-conference games - good bye to Notre Dame?

[ArizonaLonghorn]

Interesting article on the ESPN site titled "Steve Sarkisian: Texas to honor Ohio State, Michigan games".

Opening paragraph - "ORLANDO, Fla. -- Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday the Longhorns would honor the return nonconference games with Ohio State in 2026 and Michigan in 2027, but would reconsider its nonconference scheduling philosophy beyond that based on College Football Playoff selection criteria"

What's left unsaid is that "beyond that" seemingly would include our currently schedule games with Notre Dame in 2028 (Sept 9 in South Bend) and 2029 (Sept 22 in Austin).

No mention of Notre Dame in the article, which stresses that the committee seemingly didn't consider strength of schedule enough.  Another quote:

"If we're not going to value strength of schedule, then surely that's going to adjust what we do moving forward in our nonconference scheduling. We're going to nine SEC conference games, so to think that we're going to play a 10th game against an Ohio State and Michigan, and who knows else down the road, I hope we get credit for that. If not, then we really need to look after the '27 season."

Shots fired at the CFP architects and, indirectly at Notre Dame.

[Jeff Howe]

Sark said the same thing at his signing day press conference on Dec. 3, which is about all he can say right now.

[Glass Joe]

We are going to “honor” the Ohio St and Michigan games because they are both to be televised by Disney / ESPN, who expects a huge ratings windfall for these games in the September inventory.  

The first two games against Ohio St and Michigan were televised by Fox, so now it’s time for Disney to get its cut.

It’s also worth recalling that Disney paid a big “transition” fee to assist Texas and OU when we were leaving the Big 12 (negotiating the exit fees), and part of that transition negotiation was allowing Fox to televise the first two Texas vs tOSU and Michigan games on their network.  

So, I don’t think Texas is really in a position to not “honor” these return games and deny our benefactor (Disney) a huge payday.  Not to mention, Disney owns the CFB Playoffs and its structure / committee process, so Texas shouldn’t be whining too loud about the CFB Playoffs (however justified).

 

 

[Paul Jespersen]

also, no one should schedule ND anymore until they join a conference. I'm personally in the "for" big OOC game camp, but I think we should cancel ND to make both points.

🤘

 

[charlie990]

I'm assuming we're trying to not look petty by cancelling it days after the committee leaving us out.

[ArizonaLonghorn]

1 minute ago, Paul Jespersen said:

also, no one should schedule ND anymore until they join a conference. I'm personally in the "for" big OOC game camp, but I think we should cancel ND to make both points.

 

When I checked their schedule to make sure we were actually on it for those years I was surprised to see that in 2029 Notre Dame opens with Alabama, three weeks before they are scheduled to play Texas. 

Think what a hit it would be to their SOS if both SEC teams decide to cancel based on the CFP not valuing SOS highly enough.

[Battrayal]

16 minutes ago, ArizonaLonghorn said:

When I checked their schedule to make sure we were actually on it for those years I was surprised to see that in 2029 Notre Dame opens with Alabama, three weeks before they are scheduled to play Texas. 

Think what a hit it would be to their SOS if both SEC teams decide to cancel based on the CFP not valuing SOS highly enough.

doubt they will care much because with the wins over the replacement they will get in the top 12 and get their auto-bid. 

[Junior]

Bottom line: presenting a clear rationale for why Texas belongs in the playoff is not whining. It’s exactly what Sark has done, and what many respected non-Texas media voices have also articulated over the past couple weeks. Texas, like every program, has a responsibility to evaluate its schedule and résumé on behalf of its players and everyone invested in college football. I support keeping Ohio State and Michigan as home games, but any other out-of-conference games scheduled will need to be reassessed based on what we know about this committee. Additionally, playoff expansion might also influence these decisions.

What is difficult to justify is the committee ranking Miami, Notre Dame, and BYU ahead of Texas. Texas owns three current top-15 wins, while those three teams combined have just two. Texas has also defeated two current top-10 teams by double digits; collectively, Miami, Notre Dame, and BYU have zero top-10 wins. By any objective comparison, Texas’s overall body of work is greater than these teams however, it appears the committee prioritized the number of losses and relied on ambiguous concepts like the "eye test." Of course, a team looks impressive on film when they effectively execute all their plays against opponents like Syracuse, Navy, and Stanford.

[WG Carter]

We should cancel ND series ASAP, imo. 

We are doing what is best for Texas...not trying to penalize ND