Two blue bloods will face off on New Year’s Eve, as the Michigan Wolverines will take on the Texas Longhorns in the Citrus Bowl. This was widely viewed to be Michigan’s matchup this postseason, but the news
was made official on Sunday afternoon following the release of the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket.
The Citrus Bowl represents the best non-CFP bowl game for the Big Ten and SEC, and a matchup like this one with two historically great football programs is sure to draw a lot of attention from the viewers at home. Texas was the second-most viewed college football team this season while Michigan was No. 9. This very well could be the most watched non-CFP bowl game of the season, and it wouldn’t be shocking if it did better than a couple of the first-round CFP games like Oregon-James Madison and Ole Miss-Tulane.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian met with the media on Sunday afternoon to discuss his thoughts on the matchup with Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines.
“I would say just in opening, it is an honor and privilege to be part of the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl against a great opponent in Michigan, someone that we have some — having played them last year to start the season, and we are set to play them to start the ’27 season,” Sarkisian said. “The opportunity to play a quality opponent for them, for our team to extend our season is one that we are looking forward to. It is an opportunity for us to go win 10 games for the third consecutive season, something that hasn’t been done at the University of Texas since 2007 through 2009. We have had a great season, we have accomplished a lot of great things with one more goal in mind now of going to win in the Citrus Bowl.”
Michigan never had a shot at making the CFP this season following the loss to Ohio State a week ago. However, Texas was pretty close, coming in as the No. 13 team in the latest CFP rankings. A win over then-No. 3 Texas A&M kept the Longhorns’ dreams alive for a short period of time, but their hopes dwindled as the rest of rivalry week went on.
For both teams, the Citrus Bowl is not the ultimate goal — making and winning the CFP is. With so many other non-CFP teams opting out of bowl games — Notre Dame being the cry babies leading example this season — Sarkisian said it’s an opportunity for his program to get better, especially his younger players.
“We are playing a Michigan team that won five of their last six games,” Sarkisian said. “They have elite players. They have a fantastic young quarterback who got better as the season went on. They have a really good young runner. They have really good schemes on both sides of the ball, we know that from facing them a year ago. I think what (the bowl game) does is it raises the competitive level for some of our younger players and an opportunity to play them and to get them in the game, but also some players that have been developing as the season has gone on, can we continue that growth to really springboard us into 2026?
“I just know for us this is an opportunity to play another game against a really good team in a great game, great bowl game, and we’re going to cherish it and put our best foot forward and try to go win this game.”
That is the right kind of attitude to have if you’re a head coach looking to improve your program. Unlike the Fighting Irish, who complained about having their CFP opportunity “taken away” from them and decided to not play in any bowl game this year, Michigan and Texas aren’t shying away from playing one more game before the long offseason begins.
Michigan vs Texas will kickoff on New Year’s Eve at 3 p.m. on ABC.
