Texas did plenty to help itself Saturday, and the rest of the top of the College Football Playoff picture helped even more.
The Longhorns moved to 7-2 with a 34-20 win over No. 18 Missouri, picking up their fourth victory over a ranked opponent and adding another strong line to a resume that is starting to look awfully convincing. With the second CFP rankings coming Tuesday evening, the question now feels real: could Texas crack the top five?
The committee already signaled last week that the Longhorns’ two losses were not enough to bury them. Texas opened at No. 7 in the first rankings, even though it sat at No. 10 in the AP Poll a couple of days earlier and was placed ahead of teams with better records, including undefeated UCLA.
Saturday only gave the committee more to like. Texas now owns wins over four teams in the initial CFP rankings: No.
10 Ole Miss, No. 12 Ohio State, No.
13 Tennessee and No. 18 Missouri.
That kind of collection is hard to shrug off, especially when the teams around the Longhorns keep offering openings.
Indiana, which checked in at No. 4, has no win over an initial top-25 team. Its only loss came against Ohio State - the same Ohio State Texas beat. The Hoosiers were idle this week, while Texas added another ranked scalp to the pile.
That doesn’t mean the Longhorns are guaranteed to jump them. Indiana has the better record, and the committee could decide to give the Hoosiers some credit for what they’ve already built. But Texas has a real argument, especially with strength of schedule clearly mattering in the committee’s first reveal.
There are still other teams in the way, though. Texas moving past Kentucky looks likely after the Wildcats’ 34-6 loss to Tennessee.
Georgia and Utah have not done anything to suggest they should slide, and Alabama remains in the mix after the committee placed the Crimson Tide ahead of Texas last week. Alabama’s 31-13 win over LSU only helps its hold on a top-five spot.
Then there’s the Saturday night showdown between Notre Dame and Miami, which could shake the order again.
Notre Dame came in at No. 11, but its win over previously undefeated Miami gave the Irish the signature victory they had been missing. Even so, that one result does not erase the rest of the profile.
Notre Dame’s next-best wins came against Wisconsin and Michigan State, and neither team was in the initial top 25. Its lone loss came to No.
9 BYU, but the Cougars have now lost two of their last three and see their playoff hopes hanging in limbo.
Miami entered Saturday at No. 1, but the Hurricanes’ 33-20 road win over No. 16 Wake Forest is still their only victory over an initial CFP-ranked opponent. Once the unbeaten record disappeared, the resume looked a lot less imposing next to Texas’.
Still, leapfrogging Notre Dame, Miami and Indiana all at once may be too much to ask. Indiana’s record, Miami’s unbeaten run before Saturday and Notre Dame’s head-to-head win all give the committee reasons to keep at least one of them ahead of Texas.
Even so, the Longhorns have done enough to move up. A two-spot rise to No. 5 feels like the most reasonable landing spot.
In Other News...
Texas Win Has The SEC Facing An Officiating Debate
The Longhorns 34-20 win over Missouri did more than tighten Texas grip on the SEC race. It also left the league with an officiating debate after a game that featured multiple contested calls, including a disputed fumble ruling involving Arch Manning. For Texas, the result stood as a significant road win, but the conversation afterward quickly shifted from the scoreboard to how the game was handled.
Eli Drinkwitz was careful in his postgame remarks, but Missouris frustration did not stop there. Athletics director Laird Veatch later pushed the SEC to be more transparent about replay decisions, arguing that the lack of clarity only fuels speculation and mistrust. For a conference already under a microscope, the fallout from this one is likely to linger well beyond the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Faces Its Biggest Playoff Test Yet At LSU
Texas heads into Week 11 with a chance to back up the progress it has made and show it can handle the kind of stage that tends to separate contenders from pretenders. The Longhorns have been playing better of late, but this trip to LSU brings a different level of scrutiny, with the Tigers offering a defense that has been among the better units in the country and a hostile road environment to match.
For Texas, the stakes are obvious: this is the kind of game that can sharpen its College Football Playoff case or leave it needing to answer more questions down the stretch. LSU has plenty on the line too, which only adds to the weight of the matchup, and the betting buzz around the game reflects how much attention this one is drawing. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Keeps Gaining Ground As Bigger Tests Suddenly Loom
Texas kept its upward climb going with a 34-20 road win at No. 19 Missouri, a result that pushed the Longhorns up two spots to No. 8 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. It was the third straight week Texas has moved higher in the rankings, and the national picture around it shifted plenty as well, with Georgia taking over the No. 1 spot after Miamis loss to Notre Dame.
The Longhorns also landed at No. 7 in the College Football Playoff committees initial rankings, a sign that both major polls are starting to view them as a legitimate contender. Ohio States tumble after losing to Oregon only added to the shakeup, but Texas will have little time to enjoy the climb with bigger tests now waiting on the schedule and a chance to prove this rise is more than a November surge. [Read more 🡒]