HOUSTON — Next season will usher in a brand-new 12-team College Football Playoff system, perhaps changes to the transfer portal and NIL rules, and one of the sexiest nonconference games of the year.

That would be Texas at Michigan on Sept. 7.

What's kept ’em?

Between them, the two storied programs have played 2,765 games, and only one of them matched up these powerhouses, with Texas winning the Rose Bowl in 2005. The Wolverines have won more games than any other school, with 1,003 victories, but the Longhorns aren't far behind, tied with Notre Dame at 948.

When I asked Jim Harbaugh if he would be coaching in that 2024 game, the Wolverines coach very effectively sidestepped the question and said he’s focused only on the next game.

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That would be Monday night’s national championship game featuring his Michigan team and an unbeaten Washington team that just got past the Longhorns a week ago in the Sugar Bowl.

That might be Harbaugh’s final college game since the controversial coach has been dodging questions about his future intentions and the possibility that he would head to the NFL and specifically the Chargers, Panthers, Patriots or Raiders. If Blake Corum is half as elusive as his coach on Monday, Michigan might be in for a big victory.

“Well, really just not thinking past this game,” Harbaugh told me. “I don't really have any thoughts about what will be different about the 12-team playoff next year. Just really happy where we're at, and our mindset is — it's a one-track mind. Win the next game. That's been our goal the entire season, and we are really locked in on that particular mindset.”

Sure, Jim.

He sucked up to the CFP committee, commented on how he shows his team documentaries about predatory animals like wolves and tigers, and, when asked about his future, would only say, “I hope I have one.”

Mark your calendars for September: Texas at Michigan

But he did not have an opinion on that Texas game in Week 2 next season. It’s one of a number of appealing nonconference games, joining a list of Notre Dame-Texas A&M, Clemson-Georgia, LSU-USC and Alabama-Wisconsin.

These teams should be praised for scheduling high-risk games for entertaining college football fans but also preparing their teams for even more difficult games. Texas profited greatly from its win at Alabama, using it as extra leverage to gain its first CFP berth.

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But some of Michigan's players shared their views on the Longhorns game in eight months. Texas will face the No. 1 Wolverines, Oklahoma and Georgia in its first seven games, and Michigan will play the Longhorns, USC, Washington and Oregon in its first eight contests.

As many as six Texans play for Michigan, including sophomore quarterback Alex Orji (Saschse), graduate defensive back German Green (DeSoto) and freshman edge rusher Enow Etta (Keller), although only senior left tackle LaDarius Henderson from Waxahachie plays a prominent role, and he’s done after Monday night. A seventh, 6-5, 260-pound offensive tackle Blake Frazier (Vandegrift), will also be on Michigan's roster next year.

“I won’t be there for that game,” said Henderson, an All-Big Ten selection who played for Arizona State before transferring to Michigan. “But I’m looking forward to all the matchups and being a lifelong Michigan fan. I’m just looking forward to seeing (the Wolverines) dominate every single game next year. Even Texas.”

Pretty strong words, but he is a confident man and has been an integral part of a line that won the Joe Moore Award, symbolic of the best front in the nation, the previous two years. And he’s still steaming that Washington’s line wrested that honor away from Michigan this season.

“That was pretty freaking heart-wrenching, really, for our offensive line,” Henderson said.

Texas could very well pick up where it left off: in contention

Texas, too, made a legitimate push for that honor this season and should again in 2024 when its line should return virtually intact, save for graduate right tackle Christian Jones, now that center Jake Majors has announced his return to school.

Henderson wasn’t offered a scholarship by Texas or Texas A&M or even TCU and said if the Longhorns had, he probably would have considered them. “It’s going to feel even better since they overlooked me.”

Teammate Tavierre Dunlap, a junior running back from Del Valle, said he unofficially visited Texas, Texas A&M and Baylor and made a trip to Oklahoma State but had to cancel trips to USC, Stanford and UCLA. Texas did show “a decent amount of interest” in him, and he once ran in the 4x100-meter relay at the Texas Relays, but Michigan seemed more interested, and he wanted to be close to his father, who lives in Chicago.

He was part of the COVID-19 recruiting class that couldn’t take official visits to campuses but got to know Wolverines’ recruiter Jay Harbaugh, Jim’s brother.

He even knows Longhorns such as safety Michael Taaffe, defensive tackle Alfred Collins and nickel back Jahdae Barron, but the 6-foot, 229-pound running back from Del Valle was more interested in Michigan and Illinois.

“That game next year is going to probably be my favorite game on the schedule. It will be like a full-circle moment for me,” said Dunlap, who redshirted as a freshman and carried the ball just five times for 21 yards this season, largely limited to playing on special teams. “It will be awesome to play against them.”

Dunlap couldn’t be any more confident about the upcoming meeting with the Longhorns. Texas beat the Wolverines on Dusty Mangum’s last-second field goal in the Rose Bowl to end the 2004 season.

But Dunlap says playing in the Big House is just different.

“I’m already putting it down. I’m not going to lie: We’re going to win that game. We can’t lose in the Big House. We can’t lose it because, especially coming off the season we’re having this year.”

Having the game at home will be a huge advantage for Michigan, he said.

“It’s 110,000 people in there. It’ll be rocking.”

Talk about a hostile environment

Junior Colson, Michigan’s junior linebacker and leading tackler with 89 stops, might be back on next year’s team, and he checked out the Longhorns in the Sugar Bowl.

Asked what they did wrong against Washington, he said, “Just too many guys on the ground. That was the biggest thing. Don’t fall on your face.”

Ike Iwunnah, a 6-3, 313-pound junior defensive lineman from Garland, was offered a scholarship by Texas and Baylor and committed to Colorado but switched to Michigan the next day. He can’t wait until Sept. 7.

“It’s rowdy for every opponent,” he said of the Big House. “They’re going to be surprised. They’re coming in for a show. The (Sugar Bowl) was ask about who wanted it more, and I think Washington wanted it more.”

Sherrone Moore, Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator and a potential replacement if his boss takes an NFL post, took his head coach’s lead and didn’t really care to share an opinion on next year’s Texas game. But surely he must be holding back. After all, he’s an OU guy.

“I’m not even focused on that,” the former Sooners guard said Saturday. “We’re in the national championship. So that’s all we’re worried about.”

For now. Plenty of time for a proper buildup.

CFP national championship

No. 1 Michigan (14-0) vs. No. 2 Washington (14-0), 6:30 p.m. Monday, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas plays at Michigan in September in a marquee national matchup