"Can afford a loss": Steve Sarkisian defends Texas defeat by offering a new path to national championship

While the Texas Longhorns suffered their first loss of the 2024 season—falling 30-15 to the Georgia Bulldogs—in Week 8, head coach Steve Sarkisian is not concerned.

He recently claimed that, due to the expansion of the College Football Playoff from four to 12 teams, the team is able to afford a loss.

Inside Texas shared the comments from the head coach, who is in his fourth year leading the program, tweeting:

"Now, it being a 12-team Playoff... it's got a little bit more of an NFL feel in that you can afford a loss. You can afford not to be at your best.

"You can afford to have some injuries that cost you where you're not at 100 percent and you don't play your best and you lose the ballgame. Yet, you continue to strive for an opportunity to be in that playoff at the end," Sarkisian said per the tweet.

Check out Steve Sarkisian's comments on the Texas Longhorns first loss below:

The Longhorns sit at 6-1, and 2-1 in their first season of SEC play. While the loss dropped them to fifth in the latest rendition of the AP Top 25 Poll, their -850 odds of reaching the College Football Playoff are the third-best in the nation.

The team is only trailing behind the Georgia Bulldogs and Oregon Ducks.

Steve Sarkisian reiterates that Quinn Ewers remains the Texas Longhorns starting quarterback

Quinn Ewers was briefly benched in Week 8, while Arch Manning entered the game in the final two drives before the first half.

Following the game, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian revealed that he felt the former was uneasy and wanted him to regroup going into halftime before adding:

"Quinn's our starting quarterback. I appreciate the fact we're fortunate enough to have a backup like Arch that could come into the game and provide a spark in some sense.

"At the end of the day, Quinn's our starter. I think, like I said, we've got to do a better job around him. I think he would tell you he can play better, but we've got to coach better. Everybody's got to be better for our offense to perform better."

Check out the comments from head coach Steve Sarkisian below:

The Longhorns will return to the field in Week 9 when they travel to Nashville to take on the No. 25-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores.