Texas Left on the Outside Looking In: CFP Committee Drops the Ball on Longhorns’ Resume
AUSTIN, Texas - The College Football Playoff committee made its penultimate call Tuesday night, and for Texas, the message was loud and clear - and not in the way Longhorn fans were hoping.
Despite a résumé that includes a head-to-head win over Oklahoma, the toughest strength of schedule among the top 16, and three victories over Top-10 opponents, Texas landed at No. 13 in the latest CFP rankings. With only conference championship weekend remaining, the door to the 12-team College Football Playoff is all but closed for the 9-3 Longhorns.
This was the committee’s final chance to recalibrate before Sunday’s official playoff reveal. And after Texas knocked off previously unbeaten No.
3 Texas A&M in a 27-17 statement win last Friday night, there was real hope the Longhorns might get a bump. Instead, they moved up just three spots, from No. 16 to No. 13 - not nearly enough to sneak into the CFP field.
So now, barring chaos on championship weekend, Texas is staring at a likely trip to the Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31. That game, which pairs the highest-ranked SEC and Big Ten teams that don’t make the playoff, could pit Texas against USC in what would be a marquee matchup - just not the one Longhorn fans were dreaming of.
A Resume That Checks All the Boxes - Except in the Committee’s Eyes
Let’s break this down. Texas beat Oklahoma head-to-head, 23-6, when the Sooners were ranked No.
- They also knocked off three Top-10 teams over the course of the season.
Their strength of schedule? Ranked No. 8 - the highest among any of the top 13 teams in the rankings.
And yet, the Sooners sit five spots ahead at No. 8, thanks in large part to a narrow 23-21 upset win over Alabama - a game in which Oklahoma was outgained 406 yards to 212. That win came the same weekend Texas lost 35-10 at then-No. 5 Georgia, a loss that dropped the Longhorns seven spots in the rankings.
So, let’s get this straight: Texas gets dinged heavily for a road loss to a top-five opponent, but only gets a modest bump after handing the committee its highest-ranked win of the season? It’s not hard to see why folks in Austin are scratching their heads.
Who’s Ahead of Texas - And Why That Matters
Here’s the full list of teams ahead of Texas in the latest rankings:
- Ohio State (12-0)
- Indiana (12-0)
- Georgia (11-1)
- Texas Tech (11-1)
- Oregon (11-1)
- Ole Miss (11-1)
- Texas A&M (11-1)
- Oklahoma (10-2)
- Alabama (10-2)
- Notre Dame (10-2)
- BYU (11-1)
- Miami (10-2)
- Texas (9-3)
Let’s talk about strength of schedule, one of the committee’s two stated pillars (the other being head-to-head results). Texas leads the pack with the No.
8 SOS. That’s better than Alabama (No.
11), Oklahoma (No. 12), Texas A&M (No.
15), Oregon (No. 16), and way ahead of Georgia (No. 25), BYU (No.
35), Ole Miss (No. 40), Notre Dame (No.
42), Miami (No. 44), Indiana (No.
45), Ohio State (No. 46), and Texas Tech (No. 59).
So if strength of schedule and head-to-head wins are supposed to matter most, Texas has a legitimate gripe. They beat Oklahoma.
They beat Vanderbilt. They beat Texas A&M.
And they played - and lost narrowly - to then-No. 2 Ohio State to open the season.
That game, a 14-7 slugfest, was part of an aggressive non-conference schedule that now seems to be working against them.
Sarkisian Sounds Off
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian didn’t hold back this week, making the media rounds to defend his team’s case. From ESPN to FOX’s The Herd to SiriusXM, Sarkisian questioned why his team is being penalized for scheduling tough - and why a hypothetical 10-2 Texas would be in the playoff conversation, while the current 9-3 version is on the outside.
“If we’re a 10-2 team, we’re in the playoff - no questions asked,” Sarkisian said. “So, why in the hell would I play that game [against Ohio State in Austin] next season, when we’re going to a nine-game SEC schedule?”
That wasn’t just frustration talking. Sarkisian hinted that Texas might rethink its future non-conference matchups, which currently include home games against Ohio State (2026), Michigan (2027), and a home-and-home with Notre Dame in 2028 and 2029.
It’s a fair question in this new era of expanded playoffs and grueling conference schedules: What’s the incentive to take on heavyweight non-conference opponents if the risk outweighs the reward?
The Bigger Picture
The SEC is moving to a nine-game conference slate in 2026, and that’s going to change the calculus for everyone. Commissioner Greg Sankey has long asked how a 9-3 SEC team will be judged against teams from other leagues with fewer losses and softer schedules. Now he has a case study - and it’s wearing burnt orange.
Texas played five Top-10 teams. They won three of those games.
They played the toughest schedule among the top contenders. And they still sit at No.
The Longhorns may not be playoff-bound this year, but they’ve made one thing clear: in a 12-team format, the margins still matter - and so does the perception of how you got to your record. For Texas, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. But it’s also a warning shot to the rest of college football: strength of schedule doesn’t always carry the weight you think it does.
And if you’re Texas, you’re left wondering - what more could we have done?