Steve Sarkisian reveals true feelings on idea of bringing national championship to Austin after 20 years

Steve Sarkisian is itching for a national championship. He knows how it feels to get snubbed at the last second when everything goes their way until a random team kicks them out of the playoffs. Sarkisian and his Longhorns program experienced it over the previous two years as they came very close to the title game but crashed out in the semifinals.

This season, Steve Sarkisian is manifesting a golden trophy in Texas after a 20-year-long wait since the 41-38 win over the USC Trojans in 2005.

While speaking to Saints star Cam Jordan on his “Off The Edge” podcast, the Longhorns coach discussed the trophy drought of a top program that has had almost perfect regular seasons but cannot succeed in the final lap. [Timestamp 13:08]

Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian reacts during an NCAA football game. (Credits: IMAGN)

“It'd be amazing. You know, it's been a long time coming. There was an incredible run that Mac Brown had here, right? That in the 2000s how many games they won, and the great players he had, and got back to the national championship game, and COVID gets hurt. They lose to Alabama. And then, literally, the program just started to just, I don't even know how to describe it, just kind of got stale,” Sarkisian reminisced about the past on Thursday.

“Let's leave it as stale. And it was like 10 years of mediocrity. And I was part of those 10 years. My first year here was not very good. And so the fact, now that we've, we've kind of swung the pendulum back that were one of those teams that you know that if you want to talk about college football, one of the first teams that come out of your mouth would be kind of the the icing on the cake, right?

"If we can finally get over the hump, and we've been inside the 10 yard though, in the last two years to go play for a national championship, and have been able to get it done and to go watch our guys work out this morning and see how hungry they are to be the team that can do it….As Coach Saban notoriously says, right, focus on the process, not the result,” he added.

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Steve Sarkisian will square off against Ohio State in opening game of 2025

Steve Sarkisian must tackle Ryan Day's Ohio State in the upcoming season. The Buckeyes knocked them out of the playoffs in 2024, and the Texas coach is quite passionate about this opportunity for his players to give good payback.

Coach Sark mentioned his plans while speaking to Colin Cowherd on the latter's "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" show earlier this month. He got candid about playing the Buckeyes in his first game of the season and that the game could serve as a recruiting bait for incoming players. Undoubtedly, it will be a wild season for the Texas nation.