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Steve Sarkisian predicts an end to undefeated national title winners
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Steve Sarkisian understands the nature of college football, and the path to a national title looks a lot different these days.
The head coach at Texas has taken the Longhorns to back-to-back trips to the College Football Playoff, playing in the national semifinals both times. Texas played both games (vs. Washington and Ohio State) down to the wire but came up just short.
However, the fact that the Longhorns have been on the cusp before, and the up-and-coming trajectory for Arch Manning, has a lot of hope on the horizon for the program. But even Sarkisian knows one aspect of college football likely belongs to a different era.
That aspect would be the idea of an undefeated national champion. Last season, Ohio State won it all as a 2-loss team that did not even appear in its conference championship game. It was the first time since 2007 that a team with multiple losses won it all, but it seems likely that it will not be the last.
In fact, Steve Sarkisian said at the SEC Spring Meetings that all everyone wants is for the best teams available to play for national titles. That has to come with the understanding that the national championship, realistically, will be won by a team with at least one loss.
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Only one team had the chance to win it all with an undefeated record in the 2024 Playoff. That would be Oregon, the No. 1 overall seed after a 13-0 record and Big Ten title. Unfortunately, the Ducks fell apart in a 41-21 Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State in the quarterfinals.
It remains to be seen if teams with at least one loss become the new norm in a new era after undefeated teams won the titles in 2022 and 2023, but things are undeniably more difficult in the expanded Playoff era.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
