Steve Sarkisian made his stance clear every time he stepped in front of a microphone over the last two weeks: He believes his Texas Longhorns should have been part of the College Football Playoff.
So did the athletic department brass at Notre Dame, which declined a bowl invitation after what the 11th-ranked Fighting Irish perceived to be a CFP snub. Sarkisian said Sunday the No. 13 Longhorns never considered doing the same. They’ll play in the Citrus Bowl against No. 18 Michigan on Dec. 31 in Orlando, Fla.
“We felt like if we didn’t get into the CFP, being right on the cusp, we’d have an opportunity to go to a really good bowl game,” Sarkisian said on a call with reporters Sunday. “When you think about the longstanding history of the Citrus Bowl, with a really quality opponent in Michigan coming out of the Big Ten, this was going to be a great opportunity for us, for our players, for our team.”
Notre Dame (10-2) was not the only eligible team to decline a bowl bid. Iowa State and Kansas State, both programs that are undergoing coaching changes, opted against playing in the postseason, choosing to pay the Big 12’s $500,000 fines instead.
Sarkisian and Michigan coach Sherrone Moore each pointed toward the possibility of picking up a 10th win when describing their motivations for partaking in a bowl game that has become devalued since the installation of the playoff. The Longhorns are riding consecutive 10-win seasons and have not strung together three such seasons since 2009.
Additional practices awarded to teams participating in bowl games offer both Texas (9-3) and Michigan (9-3) an opportunity to further develop their players, too.
“Essentially, this is going to turn into another spring ball for us,” Sarkisian said, “where a lot of young players are going to get an opportunity to show how much they’ve grown and developed over the season, and with an opportunity to potentially play in this game where the game doesn’t count toward their eligibility.”
Older players, though, must decide whether or not they want to suit up.
Some schools include language in players’ NIL and revenue-sharing contracts that incentivize participation in these games. Sarkisian said Texas is not one of those schools. Moore, when asked, said he didn’t want to discuss specific contract language.
“I think that goes school to school,” Moore said. “We just really want guys that want to play in the game. You don’t want to have to promote people based on (if) they get rev share to play in the game. You want guys that just want to play football.”
Moore said he expects the majority of his Wolverines will choose to play. Both Sarkisian and Moore said they will use this week to seek answers regarding who intends to play and who doesn’t.
“I’m sure it’ll take a little bit of time to get to the final number of who may and may not play,” Sarkisian said. “But that’s OK. We’ve got a really young football team. We’ve got a lot of good young players that are champing at the bit for their opportunity to play.”
