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Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29

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After missing out on SEC crown, Texas hopes to win national title

AP photo by John Bazemore / Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers throws during Saturday's SEC championship game against Georgia at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
AP photo by John Bazemore / Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers throws during Saturday's SEC championship game against Georgia at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. AP photo by John Bazemore / Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers throws during Saturday's SEC championship game against Georgia at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

ATLANTA — Texas lost out on the Southeastern Conference title Saturday, but the Longhorns say it would be a mistake to count them out of the College Football Playoff or winning the national championship.

At least that’s the way coach Steve Sarkisian sees it. Texas fans can’t even fathom being left out of the playoff.

“The beauty for us is this stings, it’s hard, but we get a chance to regroup in a couple weeks and get into the College Football Playoff and go compete for a national championship,” Sarkisian said after the Longhorns’ 22-19 overtime loss to Georgia in the SEC championship game at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Texas (11-2) will find out who, where and when it will play when the final CFP rankings for the 12-team field are announced Sunday.

“I think we’re plenty good enough to go win” it all, Sarkisian said, “but we’re going to need to get healthy so we can put our best foot forward to make that happen.”