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Sports EdgeHENRI IVSeptember 13, 20262 min readAd-free
Texas Longhorns Erase 20-Point Deficit Against No. 1 Ohio State, Steve Sarkisian's Recruiting Window Opens
Fourth-quarter rally in Week 2 resets Big Ten hierarchy and accelerates Austin's premium positioning in NIL allocation talks.
Sports Edge deskSports Edge · Huang GoodmanSource: CBS Sports ↗
In plain words
Texas erased a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit against No. 1 Ohio State, immediately raising the program's recruiting and NIL leverage before CFP selection begins.
20-point
fourth-quarter deficit to defeat No
28-23
Steve Sarkisian's offense scored
21 unanswered points
in the final
12 minutes
converting three consecutive drives while Ohio State's defense rotated…
Texas erased a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat No. 1 Ohio State in Week 2, the largest comeback against a top-ranked opponent in program history. The final score was 28-23. Steve Sarkisian's offense scored 21 unanswered points in the final 12 minutes, converting three consecutive drives while Ohio State's defense rotated personnel and burned timeouts. The win moves Texas to 2-0 and drops Ohio State to 1-1 before Big Ten conference play begins.
The result matters because Texas now owns a résumé anchor before the College Football Playoff selection committee convenes in November. Sarkisian's staff can walk into living rooms in Houston, Dallas, and Southern California with tape of Quinn Ewers converting third-and-long against a Jim Knowles defense that returned eight starters from last season. The Longhorns' recruiting class currently ranks No. 3 nationally per On3, with $12.8 million in estimated NIL commitments tracked across the roster. Competing programs now face a higher entry price to flip uncommitted five-stars who watched the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte has quietly accelerated conversations with apparel partners about a revised kit deal; the current $15 million annual Nike contract expires in 2026, and Thursday's broadcast drew an estimated 8.2 million viewers on ESPN, the network's second-largest Week 2 audience in five years.
The win also shifts Ohio State's calculus. Head coach Ryan Day is now 20-3 in regular-season play since 2022 but 0-3 against top-five opponents in that span, a pattern donors and trustees notice when they underwrite a football budget north of $60 million. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly ran 14 consecutive pass plays in the fourth quarter while running back TreVeyon Henderson touched the ball twice; that decision tree will surface in Columbus country-club dining rooms before the Michigan game in November. Day's seat isn't warm, but the margin for error in a 12-team playoff era just tightened. One prominent Buckeye booster texted a colleague during the game's final drive: "We pay more and get less."
Watch for Texas to announce at least one commitment from a five-star recruit in the next 10 days, likely a defensive lineman or edge rusher who was previously listing Ohio State in his top three. Sarkisian's staff will host official visitors for the Week 4 home opener against a ranked opponent, and the university's NIL collective is preparing a September fundraising push tied directly to Thursday's result. Ohio State, meanwhile, faces a short week before hosting a MAC opponent; Day's coordinators will game-plan while fielding calls from agents representing underclassmen who now want playing-time guarantees or portal optionality written into their NIL agreements.
The playoff committee doesn't vote until late October, but Texas just banked the signature win that separates selection from omission when the room splits on a two-loss SEC team versus a one-loss Big 12 champion. Sarkisian's phone has been ringing since the final whistle, and not all the calls are about football.
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