There’s one statement that Texas fans and haters alike can never agree on.
Texas is back.
Every time the Longhorns win a big game, the statement gets thrown around by someone in the media or online.
In 2019, former Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger made an emphatic declaration after beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
“We’re baaaaack.”
The comment sparked a discussion that has lasted years: is Texas back?
After the Longhorns stormed into Ann Arbor and absolutely demolished Michigan, the defending national champions, 31-12 in the Big House, the conversation has returned to the forefront of college football.
Texas football is the best it has been in over a decade. It’s ranked second in the AP poll, its highest ranking since 2009, when it last played for a national championship. Last season, it made its first College Football Playoff appearance and won its first conference championship since 2009.
But what does Texas need to do to be back? Be consistent.
Texas fans expect the best, and for Texas to be back, it has to consistently be one of the best and be in the running for the national championship every year.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian seems to be the man to lead Texas back to the top, and he has the buy-in of his players. Now in his fourth year, he has taken the team from missing bowl games to the No. 2 team in the country.
He prides himself on not allowing his team to be defined by big wins in week two. Last year he stormed into Tuscaloosa and beat the Alabama Crimson Tide 34-24, but defined his season with a conference championship and College Football Playoff appearance.
This Texas team has the hype. It has the attention of the nation. It has a quarterback that’s the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy. But none of these things win football games.
Because of this, Texas has a target on its back. Almost every week, a ranked team that’s on a roll gets upset, and last week, it was then No. 5 Notre Dame losing to Northern Illinois.
No matter how good one team is and how badly the team it’s playing lost the week before, anything can happen, so Texas cannot afford to take its foot off the gas at any time this season.
“We’re capable of anything,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve got a really good team, but we’re entitled to nothing, and we’re going to earn everything we get. We’re going to have to earn the victory here Saturday night.”
Sarkisian knows what it takes to win a national championship and understands the type of culture it takes to beat anyone in the country. His players have bought into his formula for success and understand what is being asked of them, knowing what they need to do to beat anyone on the field.
“The opponent is irrelevant if we prepare to the standard that we have created for ourselves,” Sarkisian said. “I don’t hold (my players) to a standard that I don’t think they’re capable of. They’ve shown me what they’re capable of. That’s the standard.”
Several players know what the standard of Texas football is and has always been.
Winning championships.
For Texas to be back, it will not only have to play to the standard that is expected of them, but go above and beyond.
