The Texas Longhorns continued to solidify their stack ahead of a historic lone-state rivalry with the Aggies that the entire nation is looking up to. A dominant 31-14 win against Kentucky gave them a huge confidence boost ahead of the final game in the regular season at Kyle Field. Steve Sarkisian has every reason to brag about his 10-game winning streak and their three-week hold on the No. 3 spot, but take it slow, Longhorns fans! There’s no reason to sleep on their potential jeopardy against a well-built Texas A&M. More so, as a loss will be hard to afford for the Longhorns after TJ Pittinger’s eye-opening comment.

The Aggies might take pleasure in believing Longhorns have to walk past them and rewrite the history to make an impact at the playoff. Well, for once, they’re not wrong. The Longhorns’ playoff seat has been sorted with Alabama falling flat at Norman and Ole Miss giving it to the Gators. The win against Kentucky is just some brownie points to add to their resumes. But the thing is, everything will go in vain if they slip against their archrival, Texas A&M.

Addressing the bitter future of Sarkisian and the Longhorns in case of a wasted chance on November 30th, national analyst TJ Pittinger noted, ‘There’s a great chance that the loser of the Texas and Texas A&M game is out of the playoff. In my opinion, there will be a doomsday scenario for the SEC; here it’s already bad enough, but what happens if A&M wins that game, eliminates Texas, and A&M goes to the ACC championship and looses that with their fourth loss?” Well, here comes the shocking twist from the analyst—”They are not getting the playoff.” 

He added, “Maybe they slide Texas to a 9 or 10 seed at that point. Maybe they keep them ranked highly enough to where Texas will get in. I think they would have a pretty tough argument against some other teams that are down there in that kind of mild range, but what if A&M wins by 14 and Texas gets dropped down pretty far?”

If the Texas Longhorns drop it against Texas A&M, they will finish in a three-or four-way tie for first place with the Aggies, Bulldogs, and/or Tennessee. Despite the legit warning, they will still have some room to crack the tiebreaker and make it to the title game. But as Steve Sarkisian has his eyes fixed on the prize. Clear and simple, he’s here to win.

Steve Sarkisian remains laser-focused on the historic rivalry game against the Aggies

Sarkisian has been in his 11th season as head coach. But in a long-storied tenure, he kept on stockpiling the records but forgot to give himself a pat on the back for every small and big win in between. Looking back, the veteran coach realized that was the wrong way of living. When the Longhorns picked up their 10th win of the season, marking their first ever 10 consecutive win seasons since 2008-9, Sarkisian went a little, saying, ”I’m much more willing to pause for a second and appreciate the moments as they come along the way.”

However, while allowing himself to let it loose for a moment, the Longhorns head coach knows what the highly touted Lone State Rivalry means for the team and the entire nation. ‘‘I also know that there’s a prize out there that we’re striving for,” the 50-year-old voiced his determination.

Last year, the Longhorns had to retreat from a spot ahead of the championship. This year, with all their passion and possession, they try to get into that unfinished dream. “If we can do that, then there’s the bigger prize in the end, but I do take a moment to appreciate these moments, even today,” the HC concluded, keeping the fanbase on their toes to see what comes next in the heated up rivalry