Steve Sarkisian will face off against his former employer in the college football postseason for the second year in a row. This time, though, the stakes will be a bit higher.

Washington will face Texas in the 2 vs. 3 matchup in the College Football Playoff. That pits Sarkisian, the one-time Washington coach, against Kalen DeBoer. Shortly after the matchup was announced, Sarkisian was on ESPN to talk about the game.

“Kind of ironic,” he said. “Washington still holds a special place to me. I got my first head coaching opportunity there and had five tremendous years trying to rebuild that program. What coach DeBoer’s been able to do and what they’ve been able to do over the last couple of seasons has really been a tremendous run.

“Ironically, we played them in the Alamo Bowl a year ago. I think there’s some familiarity there. They’ve got a heck of a team. Really talented offense. They’re running the ball extremely well with Dillon Johnson and they’re playing really good defense. We know we’re going to need this extra preparation to get ourselves prepared to play, but I know our kids are excited.”

Sarkisian went 34-29 at Washington before leaving to take the USC job. He’s 25-13 so far across three seasons at Texas.

The Longhorns are 12-1 this season after winning the Big 12 Championship with a rout of Oklahoma State.

Washington is 13-0. Every challenge has been met this season by DeBoer’s bunch, and they’ll enter the Playoff with the nation’s longest winning streak at 20 games. That dates back to last season, which includes a 27-20 win over Sark’s Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl.

The CFP semifinal is slated to take place at the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 at 5:45 p.m. PT.