"Texas has entered that rarified air in our sport": Josh Pate believes the Longhorns have returned to become a CFB perennial powerhouse

After years of struggling in the college football world, Texas completed its resurgence as a powerhouse in 2023. The Longhorns once again became a force to reckon with as they won the Big 12 Championship and appeared in the College Football Playoff.

This has led to the program being viewed as a potential national champion in the upcoming season. Speaking on his show “The Late Kick” on Saturday, Josh Pate said he believes that the Longhorns have grown to become a perennial powerhouse in college football and won't have to rebuild their team.

“Texas doesn’t have to [rebuild],” Josh Pate said. “Texas has entered that rarified air in our sport where they can take their best shot, and if they win a title, fine. If they lose to Washington in the semifinals, fine. They’ll have an excellent chance to do it again the next year.”

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National title success might not come anytime soon for Texas

The national championship is undoubtedly a difficult prize to win in the world of college football. However, Steve Sarkisian has built a team good enough to challenge for it in Austin and this was made evident last season as the program almost made it to the championship game.

Josh Pate believes the time for the Longhorns to win the national championship might not come anytime soon but the team has grown to a level where they will be contenders annually. He likened it to predicting Nick Saban's retirement; it will go the right way one day.

“This could be an evergreen prediction,” Pate said. “Keep saying it. Like predicting Saban’s retirement — keep predicting it every year, because eventually you’ll get it right. Keep predicting this, because Texas is going to have a shot every year.”

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Texas national title chances in 2024

The College Football Playoff will be expanding to 12 teams in the upcoming season, allowing more teams to participate in the postseason tournament. This increases the chances for the Longhorns who made it to the last four-team playoffs.

Texas will be transitioning to the Southeastern Conference in 2024, which means they will be competing in a much more competitive conference next fall. Nonetheless, the exploits of the team in the previous season show they are up for the challenge.

The program last won the national championship in 2024 and there's a hunger to claim it again among fans and alumni. Steve Sarkisian has notably built a superb team for the Longhorns since arriving in Austin and they have a good chance of challenging for the ultimate prize in 2024.