Urban Meyer Sends Stern Warning to College Football About...

By Andrew McCartyShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member

In the days following Texas' impressive upset victory over previously undefeated Texas A&M, head coach Steve Sarkisian has gone on a media tour demanding his Longhorns make the College Football Playoff despite suffering three losses during the season.

Sarkisian has taken aim at both Miami and Notre Dame over the past few days, suggesting neither program should be ranked ahead of Texas in the College Football Playoff rankings ahead of conference title games.

“Is this about what your record is at the end, or is this about beating quality teams and showing how good of a team you really are by beating quality teams on the field,” Sarkisian said. “Or, is it, don’t play good teams, put up a bunch of yards, put up a bunch of points, and make it look good. Throw fade route touchdowns with 38 seconds to go when you’re ahead 31-7 so that the score looks better. So is the committee really watching the games, or are they just looking at a stat sheet at the end of the game to say ‘Oh, well they won by this many points, they must’ve played really good.'"

Longtime college football coach Urban Meyer appears to agree.

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Urban Meyer made his thoughts clear on the Texas Longhorns.

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During a recent appearance on 'The Herd With Colin Cowherd," Meyer made it clear he doesn't think Texas should be penalized for scheduling a tough non-conference opponent. He warned that major college football teams might avoid scheduling difficult non-conference games in the future if Texas doesn't make the playoff.

"I think Texas deserves to be in the playoff and I would not penalize that loss against Ohio State. You can’t do that. You can't, or you're getting ready to see Old Dominion is going to become a favorite of all these big teams – or teams like that because no one cares," Meyer said.

"Indiana, no one's saying a word about Indiana's non-conference schedule, no one. Yet Texas made a decision to get on a plane and go play the No. 1 team in the country, or No. 2 team in the country on the road and they got beat in a tough game. Now there's a chance they won't [make the playoff. If they didn’t play that game, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Texas fell 14-7 against Ohio State in the first week of the regular season. The Longhorns then faced off against San Jose State, UTEP and Sam Houston State in its final three non-conference games before an eight-game SEC slate in which they suffered losses to Florida and Georgia.

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