Steve Sarkisian takes shot at Miami to boost CFP case for Texas

Steve Sarkisian is in full campaign mode for Texas to make the College Football Playoff. And Miami just caught a not-so-subtle shot in his recent comments trying to lift the Longhorns past the competition.

In a recent TV hit, the Texas head coach used the Hurricanes' 38-7 win at Pitt as his example of what the CFP committee shouldn't reward. He implied a late Miami touchdown was merely empty stat-padding while he lobbies for his own 9-3 Longhorns.

"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. You know, throw fade route touchdowns with 38 seconds to go when you're ahead 31-7 so that 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 and say 'oh well they won by this many points, they must have played very good.'"

Steve Sarkisian

In that quote, Miami was obviously the point of reference. Miami led Pitt 31-7 late when Pat Narduzzi called a timeout with under two minutes left. After the stoppage, Mario Cristobal let Carson Beck take a shot, and CJ Daniels answered with a ridiculous one-handed fade in the end zone to cap the 38-7 rout. Was it stat-padding? Yes. Was it anything that we haven't seen in college football or athletics in general? No.

Sarkisian is just in a mode right now that is common during this time of year. The games have mostly been played and coaches, AD's, etc. now get the chance to make their case to the committee. Obviously, the CFP committee isn't supposed to be influenced by the outside noise, but they are human, so most figures around the sport take their chance just like Sarkisian.

His main point isn't bad. Sarkisian is arguing that the committee should care more about beating "quality teams" than about records or blowout scores, pointing to Texas' five games against top-10 opponents and three wins over ranked teams like Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M. Miami has been challenging the priorities of the committee as well, but that has centered on a specific head-to-head win against a "quality team" (Notre Dame, if you've been living under a rock).

At the end of the day, Texas and Miami have similar arguments, but the Longhorns common opponent loss to Florida does hurt them in the comparison between both teams. But, what's interesting is that Sarkisian chose Miami as his example, and not any other teams on the bubble or currently slotted in the playoff. He probably should have chosen another school to campaign against.