Texas kept piling up ranked wins, but the College Football Playoff committee still isn’t ready to let the Longhorns off the hook for those two ugly losses.
In the second CFP ranking of the season, Texas landed at No. 6, moving up just one spot from last week even after adding another win over Missouri. That leaves the Longhorns behind Georgia, Utah, Alabama, UCLA and Notre Dame, and still stuck with the same problem that has been hanging over their résumé all season: losses to unranked Oklahoma and Florida.
That contrast is what continues to define Texas’ place in the bracket. The Longhorns have four wins over ranked teams - then-No.
1 Ohio State, then-No. 14 Tennessee, then-No.
7 Ole Miss and then-No. 18 Missouri - but the committee has not treated those victories as enough to erase the damage from the back-to-back defeats that knocked them off their early-season track.
The gap between Texas and some of the teams around it is hard to miss. Alabama sits three spots ahead of the Longhorns despite having fewer ranked wins, while Tennessee is only two spots behind Texas even though the Longhorns own the head-to-head result.
Here’s how the second College Football Playoff ranking of the 2026 season looks:
Georgia Bulldogs (8-1)
Utah Utes (9-0)
Alabama Crimson Tide (7-2)
UCLA Bruins (9-0)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-1)
Texas Longhorns (7-2)
Miami Hurricanes (8-1)
Tennessee Volunteers (7-2)
Indiana Hoosiers (8-1)
BYU Cougars (7-2)
Kentucky Wildcats (7-2)
GROUP OF SIX BID: Boise State Broncos (8-1)
Texas is still in the Playoff field, but the bracket has shifted around it. Under the new ranking, the first round would feature No.
11 Kentucky at No. 6 Texas, No.
12 Boise State at No. 5 Notre Dame, No.
9 Indiana at No. 8 Tennessee and No.
10 BYU at No. 7 Miami.
That would be a different road for the Longhorns than the one they faced after the first reveal, when Ole Miss was the projected opponent. This time, Texas would draw Kentucky, a team that has surprised plenty of people this season with first-year head coach Will Stein.
If the Longhorns got through that home game, Alabama would be waiting in the second round.
For Texas, the message from the committee is clear enough: the wins matter, but the losses still loom large. Steve Sarkisian’s team has to keep stacking victories, and it has to keep looking good while doing it, if it wants the ranking to catch up with the résumé.
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Texas Heads To Baton Rouge Facing Its Biggest Test Yet
Steve Sarkisian had plenty to like after Texas handled Missouri, especially with the Longhorns extending their run to six straight wins over ranked opponents. The latest step forward also brought a little extra recognition for Arch Manning, whose performance against Missouri earned SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors and gave Texas another sign that its offense can rise to the moment when the competition tightens.
Now the challenge gets sharper in Baton Rouge, where Sarkisian called LSUs defense the most talented group Texas will see all season. For a team that has already shown it can win big games, this trip is about more than carrying momentum - it is about preparation and offensive efficiency against a front that will ask far more questions than Missouri did. [Read more 🡒]