Despite a talented roster and high preseason expectations, Texas faces scrutiny as results fail to match Sarkisian's defense. Championship hopes dwindle.
At Monday's press conference, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was asked a simple question... "Why is Texas underperforming? Sarkisian didn't seem particularly pleased by the inquiry.
"According to who?" Sarkisian responded.
As a head coach, Sarkisian's instinct will almost always be to defend his players and understandably so. But it doesn't change the simple fact that the Longhorns have underwhelmed this season.
Starting with the obvious, Texas entered the season as the preseason No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. Is it a little unfair to hold that against the team, given it has no say in the rankings? Sure. But it's completely fair to say the Longhorns were supposed to be a top-five team in the nation, not 7-3.
Also, with past success comes higher expectations. Texas making the College Football Playoff semifinals the past two seasons sets the bar for future teams to meet. Sarkisian knows that as much as anyone.
"At the University of Texas, we're held to a very high standard," Sarkisian said. "The standard is to compete for championships year in and year out."
That standard is in jeopardy as the Longhorns' CFP hopes are on life support.
To Sarkisian's point, Texas deserves its credit. It could've waved the white flag after an embarrassing 29-21 defeat against Florida to open Southeastern Conference play. Instead, it dominated a really good Oklahoma team the following week.
The Longhorns could've thrown in the towel down 38-21 in the fourth quarter against Mississippi State, but they showed fight and manufactured an incredible comeback to keep the season alive.
"What I think is that this team has competed their tail off… a lot of stuff has come across this team’s plate," Sarkisian said.
However, they were never supposed to be in these situations.
With Arch Manning at signal caller and a lot of important returners on the defensive side of the ball, Texas was supposed to be a championship contender. Now, it may not even have the chance to do that when the clock hits double zeroes against the Aggies.
There is a chance that we overestimated the Longhorns before the season, but dominant performances against Oklahoma and Vanderbilt prove that our eyes didn't deceive us preseason... Texas has one of the most talented rosters in college football.
And ultimately, that's how teams are judged before the season begins.
Many of the same issues shown in the past have plagued the Longhorns this season, which shows that players and coaches aren't learning from their past mistakes.
Yes, the schedule has been brutal. Yes, the team had picked up key injuries, and yes, the team has endured tons of scrutiny from the outside. But the expectations at Texas are simple - win.
If the team fails to do that, it will always be deemed a disappointment.