OTF Premium How much more disciplined must Texas be to reach its ceiling in 2026?

[Jeff Howe]

Any time Texas’ potential to win the national championship in 2026 is discussed, penalties will almost certainly be cited as a legitimate lingering issue that could derail the Longhorns’ efforts to return to the College Football Playoff.

After Steve Sarkisian’s first season, when Texas averaged 5.8 penalties (No. 55 in FBS) and 48.3 penalty yards per game (No. 48 in FBS), both per-game averages continued to steadily rise. The 2023 squad ranked 95th in the country in penalties per game (6.6) and finished a 14-game season tied for 70th nationally in penalty yards per game (52.2).

The Longhorns appeared to be at least leveling off in 2024, averaging 6.4 penalties and 51.8 penalty yards per game en route to 13 wins and a second consecutive trip to the CFP semifinals.

Unfortunately, things took an unexpected turn in 2025, resulting in the penalty issues under Sarkisian coming to a head.

Texas ranked 134th nationally in penalties per game (8.3) last season, making the Longhorns the most penalized Power Four team in the country and the third-most penalized team in FBS. An average of 69.7 penalty yards per game was the second worst in the Power Four (SMU averaged 70.8 penalty yards per game) and the fifth worst in FBS.

Sarkisian’s 2026 club doesn’t need to be as disciplined as Indiana was in 2025 (3.8 penalties per game tied for the fifth fewest in the country and 27.6 penalty yards per game was the second best average in FBS) to be the last team standing when the dust settles on the 12-team CFP. Nevertheless, Texas can’t be as undisciplined as it was last season (108 total penalties were a school record and only nine Longhorn teams averaged more penalty yards per game than the 2025 team) and expect to reach the summit unscathed.

Each of the last five national champions (Indiana, Ohio State in 2024, Michigan in 2023 and Georgia in 2022 and 2021) finished inside the top 30 nationally in penalties per game and inside the top 40 in the country in penalty yards per game. Furthermore, the last three champions finished tied for first (Michigan), tied for 11th (Ohio State) and tied for fifth (Indiana) nationally in penalties per game, while ranking third (Michigan), 16th (Ohio State) and second (Indiana) in FBS in penalty yards per game, respectively.

College football's talent is disbursed more equitably, thanks to dynamics like NIL, revenue sharing and the transfer portal. It’s arguably more important than ever to play disciplined football because the talent gap at the top of the sport isn’t as wide as it was a few years ago.

Still, of the 12 national champions in the CFP era, LSU in 2019 and Clemson in 2016 are the only two that finished ranked outside of the top 60 nationally in penalties and penalty yards per game.

It took Joe Burrow leading one of the most prolific offenses in college football history, along with a defense chock-full of future NFL players, for Ed Orgeron’s team to overcome a No. 107 ranking in penalty yards per game (62.4), which the worst among any national champion in the CFP era. Quarterbacked by Deshaun Watson, who was one of five future first-round draft picks suiting up for the Tigers in 2016, the first title-winning squad coached by Dabo Swinney averaged 6.3 penalties per game, making them the most penalized national champion in the CFP since the CFP replaced the Bowl Championship Series in 2014.

The Longhorns are talented, perhaps historically so, entering Sarkisian’s sixth season. Are they talented enough to absorb an absurd number of self-inflicted wounds and hit their ceiling?

Regardless, the Texas faithful can view the program’s potential improvement in a glass-half-full light because Sarkisian has shown he can right the ship. After Tom Herman’s 2020 team was one of the most penalized in the country, averaging 8.1 penalties and 77 penalty yards per game, Sarkisian oversaw those marks improving by 2.3 penalties and 28.7 penalty yards per game in his first season on the Forty Acres.

Such an improvement would put the 2026 Longhorns on track for an average of six penalties and 41 penalty yards per game, which would’ve tied for 65th and 26th in FBS last season, respectively. Six penalties per game would match the number committed by Alabama in 2020, when Sarkisian was the offensive coordinator for Nick Saban’s record-breaking seventh national title as a head coach; 41 penalty yards per game would be on par with Ryan Day’s Buckeyes in 2024 (40.8 penalty yards per game) among recent national champions.

Whether Texas makes those specific strides or gets within the ballpark of doing so, the numbers show how much more disciplined the Longhorns must be year over year to reach their desired destination.

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[Jeff Howe]

This probably won't be the last time I write about penalties. Nevertheless, I wanted to look at the national champions in the CFP era and figure out how much Texas must improve for penalties to no longer be a deterrent to winning a title.

Six or fewer penalties per game and 45 or fewer penalty yards per game should be a fair place to set the bar for improvement in 2026.

[Jeff Howe]

Here's how the national champions in the CFP era have performed regarding penalties.

As a reminder, this was Texas in 2025: 8.3 penalties per game (No. 134 in FBS); 69.7 penalty yards per game (No. 132 in FBS)

Indiana (2025) — 3.8 PPG (T-5th in FBS); 27.6 PYPG (No. 2 in FBS)

Ohio State (2024) — 4.5 PPG (T-11th in FBS); 40.8 PYPG (No. 16 in FBS)

Michigan (2023) — 3.0 PPG (T-1st in FBS); 27.5 PYPG (No. 3 in FBS)

Georgia (2022) — 4.4 PPG (No. 12 in FBS); 47.3 PYPG (T-39th in FBS)

Georgia (2021) — 5.1 PPG (T-26th in FBS); 42.5 PYPG (No. 20 in FBS)

Alabama (2020) — 6.0 PPG (T-60th in FBS); 48.1 PYPG (No. 48 in FBS)

LSU (2019) — 6.2 PPG (No. 72 in FBS); 62.4 PYPG (No. 107 in FBS)

Clemson (2018) — 4.87 PPG (No. 24 in FBS); 44.9 (No. 28 in FBS)

Alabama (2017) — 5.0 PPG (No. 31 in FBS); 40.6 PYPG (No. 22 in FBS)

Clemson (2016) — 6.33 PPG (T-73rd in FBS); 58.0 PYPG (T-85th in FBS)

Alabama (2015) — 5.6 PPG (No. 45 in FBS); 55.7 PYPG (No. 67 in FBS)

Ohio State (2014) — 5.6 PPG (No. 50 in FBS); 47.7 PYPG (No. 43 in FBS)

[CJ Vogel]

Great stuff Jeff. 

It’s hard to envision Texas as less disciplined in 2026, but there’s no real guarantee they are significantly improved. Regardless, it’s an area of the game they have to be better in if they want to achieve the ultimate goal

[charlie990]

I'd be curious what the share of the penalty yardage comes from offsides/false start/snap infraction and offensive holding. Those are probably the most preventable. DPI is sometimes not a bad trade to take if you're beat, which might happen more under Muschamp. 

[Jeff Howe]

18 minutes ago, charlie990 said:

I'd be curious what the share of the penalty yardage comes from offsides/false start/snap infraction and offensive holding. Those are probably the most preventable. DPI is sometimes not a bad trade to take if you're beat, which might happen more under Muschamp. 

I can get that breakdown.

[Beldar]

46 minutes ago, Jeff Howe said:

This probably won't be the last time I write about penalties. Nevertheless, I wanted to look at the national champions in the CFP era and figure out how much Texas must improve for penalties to no longer be a deterrent to winning a title.

Six or fewer penalties per game and 45 or fewer penalty yards per game should be a fair place to set the bar for improvement in 2026.

I think we will always be up there in penalties. Always have been .

 

[Joe Zura]

If the OL and the special teams can’t get it together like do flood and banks get paid for. And no this is not just a shot at flood but the OL and the special teams penalties over the last few years have just got worse and worse 

[Beldar]

48 minutes ago, Jeff Howe said:

This probably won't be the last time I write about penalties. Nevertheless, I wanted to look at the national champions in the CFP era and figure out how much Texas must improve for penalties to no longer be a deterrent to winning a title.

Six or fewer penalties per game and 45 or fewer penalty yards per game should be a fair place to set the bar for improvement in 2026.

In SEC championship game against Georgia, we dominated the first half and should have been up by 21. Think it was 10 penalties for 80 yards not counting yardage lost on plays called back. Georgia had 36 yards and we were over 300 i think in offense. Georgia zero penalties.