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Two college football powerhouses in Texas appear to be in good hands.
ESPN released a ranking of top-10 coaches in the country that includes Texas' Steve Sarkisian (No.
5) and Texas A&M's Mike Elko (No.
8).
Both coaches have had a 10-win season and reached the College Football Playoff (Sarkisian in 2023 and 2024 and Elko in 2025) in their tenures.
Texas will have to survive an early-season, non-conference showdown with Ohio State and a gauntlet of SEC teams, but with one of the most talented rosters in the country, Sark and the Longhorns could be poised for another deep playoff in 2026.
The head coach earned high marks from ESPN college football reporter Andrea Adelson, who wrote: "If I was hiring one coach to rebuild my program, Sarkisian would absolutely be in my top five..
Sarkisian has done a terrific job bringing Texas back into the national championship conversation." Texas A&M is looking to make it back-to-back CFP appearances, and with Elko entering the third year of his tenure, he'll have an opportunity to prove he's turned the Aggies into a more consistent program.
His track record suggests he's up for the task, as ESPN college football reporter David Hale wrote: "Elko has been the coach who appears poised to finally turn A&M into the behemoth everyone always thought it could be.
And that comes after winning as a defensive coordinator at Wake Forest, Notre Dame and A&M and then instantly building Duke into a consistent winner." Texas and Texas A&M will open their seasons on September 5, with the Longhorns facing Texas State and the Aggies taking on Missouri State.