AUSTIN, Texas — Texas coach Steve Sarkisian hopes that when it comes time for College Football Playoff selections, Ohio State will benefit from playing the Longhorns even though the Buckeyes lost a thriller Saturday night.

Texas erased a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter against the Buckeyes, with Arch Manning leading three long touchdown drives. The victory vaulted the Longhorns to No. 1 in the polls. Ohio State slipped from No. 1 to No. 6 in the AP Top 25.

The value and future of marquee nonconference games have been a prevalent topic in college football during the last year, and Texas and Sarkisian have been at the heart of it.

The Longhorns played at Ohio State last season, lost 14-7, and were left out of the Playoff after going 9-3. Sarkisian felt the Longhorns were unfairly punished by the selection committee for the loss. Texas also lost to Florida, which finished 4-8 last season, and SEC champion Georgia in the regular season. The Longhorns beat Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, all top-15 teams in the final AP rankings.

Coaches and administrators around the country have talked about whether it is worth playing big nonconference games on top of a nine-game conference schedule, especially in leagues such as the SEC and Big Ten.

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The Big Ten has pushed for playoff expansion from 12 to 24 in part because more CFP access will encourage tougher nonconference scheduling. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has proposed requiring P4 teams to play at least 10 games against other P4 teams and Notre Dame if the CFP expands to 24 teams.

Sarkisian acknowledged that beating Ohio State at Darrell K Royal Stadium, the first victory for Texas at home against a No. 1 team since 1950, was a significant moment for the program. And that Texas should be part of those types of games.

“The brand is the brand, and surely there’s a lot of teams that would want to play us in the event, right? In those games,” Sarkisian said. “And obviously television loves to have the brand on television and the viewership and all the things. And we’ve got a locker room full of players that come here to be part of those types of games, and we’ve got a fan base that loves to watch us compete at the highest level in those games. I’ve said this all along. We want to play in those games. There’s so much about those games that matter for a lot of reasons to be part of those games.”

Texas has future nonconference series scheduled with Michigan and Notre Dame.

This season, the Longhorns have six more games on their SEC schedule against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25.

“Competitively, the balance is when you take into account humans, and they’re the ones that dictate who makes the playoffs — we’re not the NFL, where it’s all based on what’s your record, who did you beat, those are the teams that make it,” Sarkisian said. “You make the playoffs based off of opinions of others, essentially, right? Unless you win your conference, and so there’s a fine line in what is the impact of that, and what are the metrics that they’re using to determine who makes the playoffs? And so that’s the risk-reward.”

Ohio State also faces a potentially loaded schedule the rest of the way in the Big Ten, with five games left against ranked teams.

“I hope Ohio State does not get punished for that game Saturday night,” Sarkisian said. “They played a heck of a game. I mean, it’s 24-23. They lose on us scoring with 25 seconds to go in the game. I hope that if they end up being a 9-3 team, the committee can appreciate the fact that they came to Austin, Texas, in September when it was 100 degrees and played us in that environment and played a heck of a game. And so they should not be punished. Quite frankly, Ohio State should be rewarded for playing in this game against us.”