Steve Sarkisian gives embarrassing explanation for Texas' College Football Playoff loss: 'We were tired'

Expectations for the Texas Longhorns football program have reached a fever pitch, with star quarterback Arch Manning heading into his second year as the starting quarterback.

The Longhorns are expected to once again have one of the best defenses in college football, brought in a top six recruiting class, and some services believe Texas has the most talented roster in the sport.

At least by recruiting rankings.

They also finished out their 2025 season with wins over Texas A&M and Michigan, taking some momentum into a pivotal 2026.

Unfortunately, despite all these factors aligning in their favor, the Longhorns also have arguably the toughest schedule in the country.

They host Ohio State, play at Tennessee, have the traditional Red River Shootout against Oklahoma, host Ole Miss, play at LSU, and at Texas A&M.

With that schedule, the Longhorns could be a significantly improved team from 2025 and still finish 9-3 without playing poorly.

WHICH TEAMS HAVE THE TOUGHEST STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE HEADING INTO COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON? But that might not be the biggest hurdle in head coach Steve Sarkisian's quest to bring a national title home to Austin.

It's being mentally tired.

Seriously.

Sarkisian revealed on a recent podcast that their loss to Ohio State in the 2024-2025 College Football Playoff was due to the Longhorns being "tired." ARCH MANNING'S NFL STAR GRANDFATHER LAMENTS HYPE AROUND TEXAS QUARTERBACK "I felt like the year we played Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, we were tired, and not necessarily physically tired," Sarkisian said.

"We were mentally fatigued as well.

That’s a long season.

We had so many big games.