Texas has landed in the middle of the SEC’s mess, and for a program sitting on two losses already, that chaos cuts both ways.
Unranked Auburn knocked off No. 1 Georgia.
No. 14 Tennessee beat No.
6 Alabama. Unranked Florida then sent No.
7 Texas back to The Swamp after a comeback win. That kind of weekend has become the league’s calling card, and it leaves everyone trying to figure out what it all means.
The honest answer: not much is clear yet.
The SEC keeps producing the same strange mix - teams with signature wins and baffling losses - and that uncertainty matters for Texas. The Longhorns need the rest of the conference to keep beating itself up if they’re going to have any real shot at the College Football Playoff. The more losses pile up around the league, the harder it gets for the CFP selection committee to sort through the field.
That same chaos could shape the SEC Championship race, too. Head coach Steve Sarkisian pointed that out Monday.
“We’re right in the middle of an SEC race,” Sarkisian said. “I won’t be surprised if the SEC Championship game has two teams that (had) multiple losses playing each other.”
That wouldn’t be some wild departure from recent history. Last year’s SEC title game featured one-loss Georgia and two-loss Alabama. In 2024, Texas got there at 11-1 and faced 10-2 Georgia.
The contrast with the Big 10 is part of what makes the SEC so unforgiving. The four teams in the 2024 and 2025 Big 10 Championship games had just one combined regular-season loss. That league has less depth at the top and bottom, which tightens the margin for error.
The CFP committee appears to understand the SEC’s grind. It picked five SEC teams and only three from the Big 10 for the postseason.
But that sympathy only goes so far. The committee won’t reward a team that doesn’t make the most of its talent in the biggest spots. So while the league’s internal chaos may help Texas on paper, none of it matters if the Longhorns don’t start fixing their own situation right away.
Two losses through the first three conference games is nowhere Texas wanted to be, and it leaves the Longhorns in a dangerous spot.
That makes this week’s game against Ole Miss feel enormous. Sarkisian knows it, and he said the opportunity starts at home.
“I think we (have) an opportunity this week to show the true character of this team,” Sarkisian said. “We get to be back at home at DKR. Our fans were awesome last Saturday, and I expect nothing less of our fans again this Saturday night.”
Texas can still survive with two losses - and maybe even three, depending on how the rest of the SEC unfolds - but one more slip would end the conversation for good.
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