Texas football has not been eliminated from College Football Playoff contention. But you wouldn’t know that from spending time on the Forty Acres this week.
Considering how high the expectations were entering the Longhorns’ 2026 campaign, confidence in them is lower than I’ve ever seen during my 2 ½ years as a student here.
The timing couldn’t be worse, as No. 19 Texas prepares to host No. 7 Ole Miss this weekend in a do-or-die matchup on the Forty Acres.
“This is a very good game against a top 10 opponent — a very good football team,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said on Monday. “We’re going to need (the crowd’s) energy. We’re going to need their passion.”
Unfortunately, Texas’ crowd seems to be busy mourning and criticizing the team’s back-to-back losses against Oklahoma and Florida. They bit their tongues after what seemed to be a flukey rivalry loss against the Sooners, but the defeat against Florida solidified for its crowd that this team is severely struggling to stay on par and establish momentum.
To some extent, I understand the fanbase frustration — it’s disappointing to see a team with all the right resources fall short of its goals. As junior offensive lineman Brandon Baker said on Monday in a media availability, fluctuating enthusiasm from fans is just part of the game.
“When you’re winning, everyone loves you,” Baker said. “When you’re losing, it’s the opposite. That’s the nature of the game. That’s the nature of the sport.”
But I also believe it is a nature uniquely tied to Texas fans.
Part of it is likely a natural result of being accustomed to winning — Texas is a historically prominent program that has had many strong rosters over the years. However, being desensitized to victory isn’t a great trait for a fanbase to possess.
That reality has also been amplified by the introduction of name, image and likeness. Expectations surrounding college football players naturally increase when players are being paid and treated like professionals.
At the end of the day, these players are 20 years old on average, and at the very least, they deserve to have their own fanbase in their corner. Outside negativity can have a toxic impact on teams, and I think Texas is one of the only schools where the fanbase might be louder after losing than winning.
As someone who stood on the field in Neyland Stadium when Texas beat Tennessee just a few weeks ago, I can confirm that the Volunteers didn’t bash their team. Because unlike their burnt orange counterparts, Tennessee fans seem to have their team’s backs win or lose.
I’m not saying Texas is going to make the CFP or that Longhorn fans don’t have the right to be upset about the team’s shortcomings — losing sucks, and I get that. But Longhorn football games are an integral part of the Texas student experience, and crowd noise has a reciprocal impact on the team itself.
“We’re going to play the game hard, and we’re going to play the game the right way,” Sarkisian said. “We may not be perfect, and we probably won’t be perfect. But we should be a team that (the fans are) very proud of.”
Regardless of how Texas plays, it’s not the fanbase’s job to crucify the reputation of its own team. That can be left to everyone else.
I believe fans can take notice of areas in which a team must improve without losing faith in the team’s trajectory at large.
