There may not be a team in college football with more exterior pressure entering the 2026 season than the Texas Longhorns.
After Texas lost in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff in the 2023 and ’24 seasons, last year’s squad ended up just outside the CFP despite a season-ending victory over third-ranked rival Texas A&M.
While coach Steve Sarkisian proudly trumpeted Thursday at Southeastern Conference media days in Tampa that his team beat three top-10 teams last season and 14 ranked opponents over the prior three seasons, the Longhorns don’t have a national championship since 2005 and haven’t yet won an SEC championship in two years in the league.
As Sarkisian enters Year 6 with a quarterback (presumptive No. 1 NFL draft pick Arch Manning) and a roster as laden with talent as any in the country, he is insistent the team doesn’t need any extra motivation from outside the building to help it reach the next step.
“Those external factors, whether it’s a comment or a tweet or a podcast or an interview by a pundit, that’s not going to motivate us. What motivates us is what we do every single day,” Sarkisian said. “I’m proud of the leadership on our team for buying into that idea, and I couldn’t be more proud of the guys for the way that they handle themselves that way. Because we’re going to have to.”
Texas’ challenging 2026 schedule includes a Week 2 home game against Ohio State, matchups against 2025 CFP competitors Oklahoma and Ole Miss, and trips to Lane Kiffin-led LSU and Texas A&M in the final three weeks of the regular season.
–Sam Leavitt healed, ready for 2026 season
One of the more surprising players not representing his team at SEC media days this week was LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt.
The No. 1 overall player in the 2026 transfer portal class per 247Sports was hand-picked over a number of other transfer quarterbacks to lead the Tigers in Kiffin’s first season in Baton Rouge.
The only real question surrounding him was his health. After Leavitt threw for 2,885 yards, ran for 443 yards and accounted for 29 touchdowns while leading Arizona State to the CFP in 2024, he played in just seven games last season before undergoing season-ending foot surgery.
But Kiffin expressed no concern about any lingering effects of a recovery affecting Leavitt’s status for the 2026 season.
“I have great confidence in his health,” Kiffin said of Leavitt. “… He’s done a great job, really leads our players in a lot of player-led practices this time of year.”
Kiffin added that one of the reasons the Tigers didn’t bring Leavitt — who has added 11 pounds to his frame this offseason — to Tampa was so that he could guide one of those practices Thursday morning.
“He’s done a great job,” Kiffin said.
–Ryan Silverfield embracing challenge at Arkansas
Ryan Silverfield’s move to Arkansas probably wasn’t near the top of the list of flashiest hires made during the offseason’s chaotic coaching carousel.
That being said, he posted a 50-25 record over six-plus seasons at Memphis. And as the moderator pointed out while Silverfield was at the podium, the coach has a 5-1 career record against current SEC coaches.
“That’s great. Keep doubting me,” Silverfield said.
He arrives in Fayetteville to take over a program that may be the hardest to lead to consistent success among all SEC teams. The Razorbacks are coming off a 2-10 (0-8 SEC) season, their third winless SEC campaign in the past eight seasons, and have won 50% of their conference games just once in the past 10 seasons (4-4 in 2021).
For Silverfield, who was a Division III player at Hampden-Sydney College, it’s just another hurdle on his path of overcoming obstacles.
“People have the right to feel a certain way, and that’s OK. I’ve been doubted my whole life,” Silverfield said. “That’s not a bad thing. I think what ends up happening is you have a head coach that has a chip on his shoulder.
“It doesn’t matter what other people think about me. It truly doesn’t. All I care is what the players and my family think about me. Anybody that’s been around our program, anybody that’s been around me knows that we’re going to do it the right way. In due time we’ll get this back to where it needs to be.”
