"We needed a break": Steve Sarkisian lays down the grueling schedule of CFB

Steve Sarkisian led Texas to its longest season in college football history in 2024. With the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, the season became longer for teams involved in the postseason tournament, which now has three rounds before the title game.

Texas reached the semifinal of the playoffs last season, losing to the eventual champion, Ohio State, in the Cotton Bowl. It was undoubtedly a long and consuming season for the Longhorns, which also made an appearance in the SEC title game in just their first season in the conference.

Steve Sarkisian sat down with Colt McCoy on a recent installment of the “Clean Pocket” podcast to discuss a host of things about Texas football ahead of 2025. The coach gave a description of how grueling the college football season has become for players and coaches.

“Those first two weeks we were in school, he (Torre Becton, the director of player performance) was just working with all the new faces - the high school kids, the transfers,” Sarkisian said (Timestamp 13:38).

“We gave the returning players those first two weeks off. Think about this. They got two weeks off. And then we started winter conditioning. They went for four weeks without us, without coaches. I gave the coaches a couple of weeks off. We needed a break. We needed to take a break.

“The players probably didn't want to see us either. They were like, we just played 16 games and these guys are yelling at us. And what was interesting to him, he (Coach Becton) said it took all the way to about the third week for the players to kind of get out of the blues last season.”

Steve Sarkisian describes what he's seen from his team in spring camp

Texas is already preparing for what is anticipated to be another big season in 2025. After appearing in the CFP semifinals in the last two seasons, the Longhorns are projected to go all the way for the ultimate goal this year. Steve Sarkisian describes what he's seen in his players.

"They've been awesome,” Sarkisian said (Timestamp 14:23). “This team is energized. They're talented. We are talented. But probably more important is they're really hungry.

“I always refer to like, a lot of these guys were puppies in the last two seasons. And now they're like the grown-up dog but still have the energy of the puppy. So these guys are flying around.”

Steve Sarkisian has earlier disclosed that Texas will not hold a spring game this year, a decision made by several other college football programs. Nonetheless, with Arch Manning getting the starting quarterback role and a No. 1 class in 2025, a lot is expected from the Longhorns.