Steve Sarkisian got asked Sunday if Texas thought about skipping bowl season like Notre Dame just did. His answer came fast. No, the Longhorns never considered it. Texas will face Michigan in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Eve instead.
Sarkisian explained why his team wants to play despite missing the College Football Playoff again. He also talked about what Notre Dame’s opt-out decision might mean for college football, though he said nobody really knows where this goes next. Bob Ballou, a Texas sports reporter, shared the full comments from Sunday’s bowl game press conference.
“Where it goes from here, I don’t think anybody really knows.”
I asked Steve Sarkisian if Texas considered opting out of its bowl game. He said UT did not.
Why the Longhorns want to play – and what impact Notre Dame’s decision to opt out could have on college football.… pic.twitter.com/mHZDj9hyrq
— Bob Ballou (@BobBallouSports) December 7, 2025
Texas finished 9-3 this season with wins over three teams ranked in the final CFP top 15. Losses to Ohio State, Florida and Oklahoma kept the Longhorns out of the 12-team playoff field. Miami took the final at-large spot over Texas based on their head-to-head win in the regular season opener.
Notre Dame dropped from eighth to 11th in the final rankings despite winning their last 10 games, then announced Sunday afternoon they would decline any bowl invitation.
Sarkisian Points to Bowl Experience His Team Missed Last Year
The Texas coach said his players went straight from the SEC Championship Game to the playoff semifinals last season without getting the bowl experience.
The Longhorns lost to Georgia in Atlanta, then beat Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl semifinal before falling to Notre Dame in the national championship game.
This year’s team won’t get that playoff run, but Sarkisian wants them to have the bowl week experience they skipped in 2024.
“One, no, we did not,” Sarkisian said when asked about opting out. “We felt like if we didn’t get into the CFP, being right on the cusp, we’d have an opportunity to go to a really good bowl game…When you look at our guys last year, when you go to the playoffs coming right out of the SEC Championship game, we didn’t get the bowl experience. And I think that’s part of playing college football is getting some of that bowl experience.”
“Sometimes a bowl game is about celebrating the season and finishing the right way. Like I said, I can’t speak for everybody else. That may change some as we evolve. I think we all can agree we’ve got a flawed system right now that needs to be revamped, needs to be looked at from a lot of different angles. Where it goes from here, I don’t think anybody really knows.”
Texas faces Michigan for the second straight year after beating the Wolverines 31-12 in Ann Arbor last season. Both teams enter with 9-3 records. The game kicks off at 3 p.m. ET on Dec. 31 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
A win would give Texas 10 victories for the third consecutive season, something the program hasn’t done since 2007 through 2009.
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