Texas Longhorns in 'College Football Playoff or Bust' Mode for 2025 Season

With the start of fall camp just now under a month away, the expectations for the Texas Longhorns in 2025 continue to build. They are seemingly set to enter the season as the preseason No. 1 team and are viewed as the favorite to win the national championship.

But does that mean the expectations are championship-or-bust for Texas in 2025? As Lee Corso would say, "not so fast, my friend." During his recent appearance on the Cover 3 College Football Podcast with Bud Elliott, Horns247 writer Eric Henry revealed the expectations for the Longhorns are a little bit below "championship or bust."

"When you talk about expectations for me, I think College Football Playoff or bust is very fair considering the standard that has been set by Steve Sarkisian and Co. over the last few years," Henry said. "The floor in my mind, and I've kind of toyed around with this -- I think the floor is nine wins, honestly, the way this schedule shakes out. I think the ceiling during the regular season would be one loss."

Playoff Or Bust?

It was not long ago that when the talk of ceilings and floors came up, a nine-win season may have been the "ceiling." Now, the Longhorns are back in the discussion of national title contenders under head coach Steve Sarkisian, and a nine-year season is being listed as a "floor."

That's how far the Longhorns have come heading into Year 5 under Sarkisian. Those expectations are in place even as Texas will have a lot of new faces at key positions. They will have a new quarterback, four new starters along the offensive line, and fresh faces along the defensive line, among others.

Yet, after signing the nation's No. 1-ranked recruiting class, the expectations are for Texas to reload even after having 23 players selected in the last two NFL Drafts. It's just another sign that the Longhorns are indeed "back" after all this time.

It seems the question about winning a national championship, isn't as much a matter of "if," but more so "when" now as they head into 2025.

While there is still a long way until that Monday night in January when the title game will be played, hints about whether the Longhorns will be one of the final two teams standing could come as early as Week 1.

Texas will open the year on the road, facing the defending national champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes. Kickoff on August 30th is set for 11 a.m. CT.