Steve Sarkisian Gets Brutally Honest About Texas Being Ranked No. 1 in College Football

The buzz around the Texas Longhorns football program is as high as it has been in nearly 20 years.

The program won the Big 12 and made the College Football Playoff in 2023, and have picked up where they left off to start this season. They already dominated a top 10 team on the road in No. 10 Michigan, and following their latest win, they jumped up to No. 1 in the latest AP Poll.

An honor that they haven't held since 2008, and one that Steve Sarkisian is making sure that the team doesn't get caught up in the hype.

“I think now more than ever, and I don’t want to take anything away from the polls, but because of the 12-team Playoff, it really doesn’t matter," Sarkisian said. "And we say it all the time as a team, it’s not really what other people think of us, it’s about what we do, and we’ve got to perform, and we’ve got to prepare to perform because the way this is set up, back in the day, the polls were huge because the polls dictated who got to play for a national championship and ultimately, who won the national championship.

"Nowadays, you got to go earn it, and so I think it’s good to show what we’re capable of, but at the end of the day, we’re gonna have to go earn this thing, and the mission is far, far from over," Sarkisian continued. "We’ve got a long way to go. So again, our guys, I don’t even think they talk about it.”

While the coach and players are showing it doesn't mean much to them, it does show just how far this program has come under Sarkisian. When he took over in 2021, the team went 5-7 and was horrendous in the trenches.

They are now one of the fastest and most physical teams in the country. This is also the first time since Mack Brown was at the helm that Texas is both recruiting at an elite level and maximizing the talent in the process.

They will look to stay hot against Lousiana Monroe on Saturday, and stay in the No. 1 spot they don't care about.

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