As if the Texas Longhorns needed a reason to be motivated on Friday night, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire provided Steve Sarkisian's team with all the ammunition they needed. Texas punched its ticket to the Big 12 Championship Game as the No. 1 seed by absolutely throttling McGuire's Red Raiders to the tune of 57-7 during Black Friday.
Longhorns star quarterback Quinn Ewers completed 17-of-26 passes for 196 yards, a touchdown and an interception before being pulled in Texas' blowout victory over the Red Raiders. When asked about it after the game, Ewers did say that McGuire and Yormark's comments about the future Big 12 defectors were an extra source of motivation for Texas. They are leaving for the SEC with Oklahoma.
Ewers is absolutely right that Yormark should not be talking this disparagingly about its likely conference champion. Assuming the Longhorns get past either Oklahoma State, Oklahoma or Kansas State in Arlington, they stand a fantastic shot at making the College Football Playoff as a one-loss, Power Five champion. Of course, they are going to need some help to make the four-team field...
Even if they do come up one spot short of getting in, Texas is almost nearly back under Sarkisian.
As for McGuire and Yormark, you are too big to be small. The Big 12 hates appearing small so much...
Quinn Ewers admits Joey McGuire and Brett Yormark motivated Texas
No matter who the Longhorns face in Arlington next week, they will be the overwhelming favorite to win the Big 12 one final time before they depart for the SEC with Oklahoma next season. Of course, they do not control their own destiny to make the final four-team College Football Playoff. They need at least one other Power Five conference champion to have one loss to give them their best shot in.
If Florida State, Georgia, Washington and either Michigan or Ohio State run the table en route to 13-0, 12-1 Texas will get left out, even if the Longhorns were to clobber either the Cowboys, Sooners or Wildcats in Arlington. With the Big Ten and SEC almost certainly getting a team in, Texas really needs Alabama, Florida State, Louisville and Oregon to lose. They have a excellent resume, but not the best.
Even if the Longhorns do not make the playoff as a 12-1 Big 12 Champion, they will be about as close as humanly possibly to being back without necessarily being back. All "is Texas back?" jokes aside, we would say in that scenario that they have almost certainly arrived. Better yet, they might be a serious contender to win the SEC outright during the Longhorns' first season in the league in 2024.
Let's just say Texas does not need any motivation the rest of the way going forward, as they are fine.