Texas Longhorns Top SEC Preseason Poll

Unfortunately, that may be more of a curse than a blessing. In the 33 years that the SEC has had a conference championship game, the predicted champion has only won the the conference 10 times. Long odds for Sarkisian and co., to be sure.

That said, not only do the Longhorns have the talent to win football's toughest conference, but the drive as well.

"I think there's a fine line there of what does complacency look like, of monitoring it, and I watch the intent of our players," Sarkisian told reporters on Tuesday. "I watch the way they work. I watch the way they interact with one another. I watch the way they compete with one another. I don't feel complacency whatsoever amongst our players.

"What I do know about our team, I think Anthony Hill was a state champion in high school. Colin Simmons was a state champion in high school. Michael Taaffe was a state champion in high school. Tre Wisner was a state champion in high school. I could go down the list. We've got winners in our locker room, and we specifically and intentionally recruited winners into our locker room. So when these guys are going into the locker room after a loss in the semifinals, I promise you it hurts them. We don't forget that feeling. So we're back to work, and the leadership on this team is full of winners, and that's the way they want to go about the season is try to go win a championship. That's the goal."