Steve Sarkisian names who Texas has to beat to 'be the champion'

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Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian emphasized the high expectations Texas has entering the 2026 college football season at SEC media days. Sarkisian and Texas were disappointed to miss the College Football Playoff last season, but the Longhorns are looking forward to having a chance to get back on the football field and an opportunity to return to the playoff.

"The expectations are always high within our organization," Sarkisian said. "They're higher than you would imagine. They're higher than they are on the outside world."

Texas enters the 2026 season as one of the favorites to win the SEC. The media picked the Georgia Bulldogs to win the conference, but the betting odds are in the Longhorns' favor.

Texas knows that, in order to win the SEC, they'll likely have to beat Georgia. The Longhorns are 0-3 against Georgia since joining the SEC including an overtime defeat to the Bulldogs in the 2024 SEC championship.

"There's a lot of sayings and quotes in the sports world in particular, but this one probably is the most fitting," Sarkisian said. "'If you want to be the champion, you got to beat the champion.' It's no more fitting for us.

"We've played Georgia three times. They've beaten us. All the credit in the world to Kirby (Smart), their team. They're tough. They're good. If we want to be a champion, I'm guessing we'll probably have to beat the champion to make that happen."

Of course, Georgia and Texas don't play during the 2026 regular season. The two SEC powers are both looking to navigate a nine-game conference schedule to return to the SEC championship. Georgia is back-to-back SEC champions and has a more manageable path to return to Atlanta than Texas. The Bulldogs and Longhorns will both have to beat a slew of SEC contenders. The conference is deep with Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU and Texas A&M all having realistic SEC championship and playoff aspirations.

"I think that this group holistically is committed to the mission of being a champion," Sarkisian said on the Longhorns' mentality after missing the playoff last season. "They're not just saying it, right? It's not about what we say. It's about what we do. Their actions are showing it."

Texas has a high level of confidence entering the 2026 season, but that will quickly be tested with the Longhorns hosting Ohio State on Sept. 12. While Georgia won't play Texas during the regular season, the Bulldogs will be watching the Longhorns and quarterback Arch Manning from afar as a possible SEC championship opponent.

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This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Steve Sarkisian names who Texas has to beat to 'be the champion'

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