With just one week left before the College Football Playoff field is officially set, the picture is coming into focus - and for Texas, it’s not the one they were hoping for.
The latest CFP rankings dropped, and the Longhorns landed at No. 13.
That’s a tough spot, especially with the new 12-team playoff format. Why?
Because two of those 12 spots are locked in for conference champions - one from the Group of Five and one from the ACC - regardless of their overall ranking. That means Texas, sitting just outside the cut line, is likely on the outside looking in.
Let’s break it down. Texas is part of a six-team logjam fighting for the final two at-large playoff spots.
Utah checked in at No. 15, Vanderbilt at No. 14, and then things get really tight: Miami at No. 12 and BYU at No. 11 are the current placeholders for the final two seeds.
That pushes Texas to the dreaded “first team out” territory. Notre Dame slid in at No. 10, and Alabama secured the No. 9 spot.
For Longhorn fans, this stings - especially considering the résumé. Texas picked up three wins over current CFP Top 15 teams: Vanderbilt, No.
8 Oklahoma, and No. 7 Texas A&M.
That’s no small feat. On the flip side, their two losses came against the cream of the crop: No.
1 Ohio State and No. 3 Georgia.
Losing to those two doesn’t exactly scream “disqualifier,” but it seems the committee weighed those defeats heavily.
The frustration for Texas faithful is understandable. Beating two Top 10 SEC teams and a ranked Vanderbilt squad should carry weight. But the committee’s decision suggests that strength of schedule alone wasn’t enough to overcome the two losses - even if they came against elite competition.
Now, with just one weekend left - conference championship weekend - Texas is left hoping for chaos. But with the ACC and Group of Five champs guaranteed a spot, the margin for movement is razor-thin. Unless something wild happens, the Longhorns may be on the outside of the playoff party, watching teams they’ve beaten - or played closely - take the stage instead.
It’s not the ending Texas envisioned, especially in a year where they proved they could hang with the best. But in a playoff format that still favors perfection - or at least near-perfection - the smallest slip can be the difference between a shot at a title and a season that ends just short.