Arch Manning's Texas Longhorns opt to avoid Big 12 team in future: "A bunch of cowards"

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the 2025 college football season were the Texas Longhorns. Preseason lists had Steve Sarkisian's team as a no-brainer National Championship pick, with quarterback Arch Manning as the overwhelming Heisman Trophy favorite.

Manning and the Texas offense took way too long to get started, leaving them on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff. Manning turned his season around, though, and the hype is already gaining steam for the 2026 season. Looking even further ahead into the future, a move by Texas is garnering plenty of unwanted attention in the meantime.

Texas to opt out of Arizona State matchup in 2032 and 2033

According to Chris Karpman, who covers the Arizona State Sun Devils for 247Sports, the Longhorns are trying to cancel their planned games against ASU in 2032 and 2033.

Manning will be well into his NFL career by then, while Sarkisian could very well have moved on to another coaching gig. The university is clearly thinking ahead of their coaches and players, and the decision to eliminate games against Arizona State likely comes down to the capped upside of playing them.

Losing out-of-conference games now has a bigger impact on a team's chances to make the College Football Playoff, since the field was expanded to 12 teams. Winning conference games simply hold more weight, and the risk of losing to an outside school is simply not worth it for an SEC team like Texas.

While the move may be logical, it didn't stop ASU fans from piling on and calling the Longhorns "cowards" and "scared". Texas beat the Sun Devils in double overtime in the CFP during the 2024 season, but it took a controversial targeting no-call in order to get them over the finish line. ASU fans are still not over that, and it looks like they may not be able to get their revenge in a few years.