College football schedules are not created equal in the SEC. Take Texas A&M for example who sits atop the SEC standings this season partially because their conference opponents have an 8-27 record this season. Some schools have an easier path than others each season, and that is just the reality of how college football works.
But Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian believes that the Longhorns' schedule is very unfair compared to the rest of the SEC, and he appears to already be using that as an excuse before playing Georgia this weekend.
“I think there's some distinct advantages that some people have where they spread out their non-conference games throughout the season, they play non-conference games in the second-to-last game of the season and we're playing all ours on the front end,” Sarkisian said via x.com. “They're playing conference games earlier in the year when their team is 100% healthy. I don't love our schedule, but it's our schedule. So I do love it in the same breath because it is what it is. You play the schedule. You play the hand your dealt.“
Steve Sarkisian argues Texas's schedule gives them a big disadvantage
Sarkisian believes that Texas having to play all of their SEC games at the end of the season is a disadvantage compared to a team like Georgia who will finish their regular seaon with two non-conference games. He thinks this is a disadvantage because Georgia was able to play their early SEC games when they were more healthy, but that reasoning makes no sense whatsoever.
For starters, Texas has zero players listed on their injury report this week, so their team is 100 percent healthy against Georgia this weekend. But there is some truth to most programs being more healthy at the start of the season than at the end. However, playing easy non-conference opponents to start the season like Texas did in weeks two through four instead of playing at Tennessee in week three seems like a better way to a season. Georgia had a very important game early in the year when they were still finding their identity while Texas had three easy games where they could easily win even if they weren't at their best.
So which schedule is actually easier? There are pros and cons to both Georgia and Texas's schedules, but Sarkisian using this as an excuse before even playing UGA this weekend is a shocking thing for any head coach to do.