Texas football turned a corner, but will that continue in a league like the SEC? | Golden

NEW ORLEANS — A 12-win season is rarely easy.

Repeating that success? Even harder.

Sustaining it over time? Another level altogether.

Fans sometimes have the bad habit of assuming big seasons happen for reasons beyond the obvious. But it takes some sustained effort to make it to the college football semifinals and no matter the result, one should not assume their team can use a great season as some sort of get-into-the-CFP-free card.

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The 2023 Texas Longhorns will be remembered as the team that broke a 13-year drought between Big 12 titles, the one that started a possible return to national relevance and, sadly, the one that came within one Sugar Bowl win of getting a shot at a fifth national title.

Monday night's 37-31 finale in the Big Easy was anything but because Washington was that good. Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was surgical and No. 2 Washington (14-0), which will now take on undefeated Michigan next week in Houston, deserved to win.

Texas has sent a message to the college football universe that it can win in hostile environments, recruit with the very best and compete in the transfer portal marketplace as well as anybody.

More: With no answer for Michael Penix, Texas football's season ends in the CFP semifinals

With that said, it would be a huge mistake to assume the Horns will all of a sudden turn into Alabama or Georgia and start collecting CFP appearances like they're some coin collection. To assume “This is who we are now” after one 12-2 season would be to overlook what it took to get here. Head coach Steve Sarkisian did one hell of a job to turn a 5-7 Austin nightmare in 2021 into something beautiful two years later, but he understands that it all starts over in 2024 with no bonus points given because of what went down this season.

"This doesn't just happen,” Sarkisian said. “It took 12 months of hard work. We have to make sure that complacency doesn't set in. We got to be mindful of that. And then we go right back to the foundation of building the team, whether it's winter conditioning, spring ball, summer workouts, training, camp, Culture Wednesdays, all the things that we do.”

And then, later: “Every year, a coach must rebuild the character of a football team.”

Texas' time as a national player could be just starting

Mack Brown’s run of double-digit winning seasons from 2001 to 2009 didn’t happen because he was adept at remembering names and kissing babies. Mack, like Sarkisian's mentors Nick Saban at Alabama and Pete Carroll at USC, put in the hours needed to make the Horns a national player.

Bohls: Texas' defense was in retreat mode the entire game, thanks to Michael Penix Jr. | Bohls

For Sarkisian, getting to this point was a painstaking process that came with a lot of dark days, but the building blocks are there, culturally for sure.

The loss will sting because No. 3 Texas (12-2) didn’t play to the level to which we had become accustomed in big games. This wasn’t the same team that spanked Alabama in Tuscaloosa in September or the one that smoked Texas Tech and Oklahoma State to close out the regular season.

The Longhorns didn't play well Monday night, but that doesn't take away from a program-changing season in Sarkisian's third year.

Yes, the Longhorns won 12 games for the first time since Colt McCoy was leading the program to a 25-2 finish over the 2008 and 2009 seasons, the program’s last real moment of national relevance. Those teams went 12-1 and 13-1, both finished in the top three of the final rankings and it was that point that Mack’s run of dynastic seasons hit a wall.

What's next for Texas? Decisions.

We don’t know if quarterback Quinn Ewers, center Jake Majors and pass catchers Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell and Ja’Tavion Sanders will be back for another season, and they’re the nucleus of this offense. And the obvious departures of linebacker Jaylan Ford, right tackle Christian Jones, wideout Jordan Whittington, defensive back Jahdae Barron and Outland Trophy-winning defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat will demand that some new faces step up if the Horns expect to make this kind of magic next fall when they're playing in the SEC.

Whittington and Barron could actually return for another season, but the general feeling is they'll be moving on. Late Monday night, Whittington told his teammates in the locker room that he loved them and then thanked them for one heck of a ride.

When Whittington leaped and reached into the bright lights of the Superdome to pull down that 41-yard bomb from Ewers with 28 seconds left — his final catch at Texas — it felt as if the Horns would defy all logic and steal one, but Ewers’ last three throws missed their marks and the offseason started one week too early for the Longhorns' taste.

Through the hurt and disappointment after the game, Whittington told me that what Sarkisian has built will replenish and result in more success.

“The talent is going to replace itself and that culture, it just stays,” he said. “The leaders have got to step up and lead and then after that, it's just playing the game and stuff will go in your favor. I definitely think this team will be right where they need to be.”

'We went all the way to the last play'

Ford told his teammates that he was proud of them. This came moments after Barron noticed he was in a bit of despair following the game. “Keep your head up,” Barron said, hugging him.

It was Ford’s last college game. He and Whittington were two of the best examples of what Sarkisian has been preaching since he got here.

"This whole year we sacrificed a lot to build this team the way we wanted it,” Ford said. “We went all the way to the last play. I’m just proud of our guys for not giving up. We didn’t stop until that clock hit zero.”

Ford and Sweat will likely be cashing NFL paychecks this time next year, but both will have an eyeball peeled for what’s going on in Austin.

“I definitely believe in those young guys,” Sweat said. “They work hard. They’re the reason why we got this far. Hopefully the guys coming in will continue to have that Texas brand. I will be watching them and supporting them.”

There are zero guarantees that the Horns — or anyone else — will make it back to the CFP semifinals next season, but it’s particularly daunting for Texas’ case because the Longhorns will no longer be in the Big 12. The SEC brings with it a whole new set of challenges because of the obvious step-up in blue bloods within the same league. We already know the Horns will travel to Michigan and host Georgia in 2024 in addition to the annual Red River Rivalry game with Oklahoma and the resumption of their century-old rivalry with Texas A&M.

Sarkisian has already topped Saban once and has put together two excellent recruiting classes but making it back to football’s Final Four will be a steep uphill climb with the start of the 12-team playoff.

Excellence can only come with repetition. Vince Lombardi famously said, “Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”

Sarkisian knows only one way to get things done and that’s to attack with effort.

“I think that there's a lot of lessons to be learned that the value of that hard work that we put in is the reason that we're in this position,” Sarkisian said. "So we’ve got to get right back to it again.”

Texas fans should take a breath over these next few weeks and realize how cool this was. When the Horns are battling in that beehive of a league for the next 50 years, remember 2023 for what it was: a great season by players who rose from the depths to make you proud of the program again.

Players like Whittington, the best example of a team player we’ve seen at Texas in years.

“I really wanted this for my guys,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Golden: Texas football's success will be difficult to sustain in SEC