When Urban Meyer speaks, especially about the College Football Playoff, people listen. And on Monday, the former Ohio State head coach joined The Herd to weigh in on one of the most heated debates in college football right now: Should the Texas Longhorns make the playoff?
Meyer didn’t mince words. “Texas deserves to be in,” he said, pointing to their early-season loss to Ohio State as a game that shouldn’t count against them.
And it’s hard to argue with the logic. That game, a 14-7 slugfest in Columbus, was a defensive battle between two heavyweights.
Texas went into one of the toughest environments in the country, held their own, and came up just short. According to Meyer, punishing a team for that kind of matchup sends the wrong message.
“If they didn’t play Ohio State, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Meyer told Colin Cowherd. And he’s right. That Week 1 showdown may have done more harm than good for Texas in the eyes of the committee, but it also showed exactly what kind of team Steve Sarkisian has built in Austin-one that doesn’t back down from a challenge.
Now, rewind to early October. After Texas dropped a game to Florida, Meyer was singing a different tune, suggesting the Longhorns were out of the playoff picture.
But college football seasons are long and winding, and narratives shift quickly. Since then, Texas has fought its way back into the conversation.
Most notably, they handed then-No. 3 Texas A&M a loss last Friday night-a statement win that kept their playoff hopes on life support.
Still, the Longhorns find themselves on the bubble, and Meyer’s frustration is one shared by many in the sport. “Right now, if I’m Chris Del Conte and Sarkisian, there’s a chance they’re going to be left out of the playoff because they played Ohio State in Week 1,” Meyer said. “Why would you do that?”
It’s a fair question. If scheduling a marquee non-conference opponent like Ohio State ends up hurting your playoff chances, what’s the incentive? Why take the risk?
Texas played five Top-10 opponents this season and came out with a 3-2 record. Their only losses?
To the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the country. That’s not a résumé to scoff at.
In fact, it’s the kind of schedule that should boost a team’s playoff case-not bury it.
Meyer warned that if the committee punishes Texas for scheduling aggressively, it could have a ripple effect across the sport. Programs might start ducking tough out-of-conference games altogether, opting instead for easier wins that pad the record but don’t move the needle.
The end result? A weaker slate of early-season matchups and a less compelling product for fans.
There’s a real balancing act here. Beating a ranked opponent in September can supercharge your playoff campaign. But lose that game-even by a touchdown on the road to a perennial powerhouse-and it can become an anchor dragging your season down.
And then there’s the elephant in the room: transparency. The College Football Playoff rankings give us a glimpse into the committee’s thinking, but that thinking isn’t always consistent.
One year, strength of record might carry the day. Another year, it’s head-to-head wins.
Sometimes it’s conference championships or how a team looks down the stretch. Injuries, eye test, margin of victory-they all seem to matter, but to varying degrees depending on who’s in the room.
That lack of clarity makes it nearly impossible for teams like Texas to game the system. And when you’re trying to plan a non-conference schedule years in advance, that uncertainty becomes a problem.
Do you go big and risk a loss that might be held against you? Or do you play it safe and hope an undefeated record is enough, even if it comes against weaker competition?
For Texas, the answer this season was to test themselves early and often. And while that approach has earned them respect, it may not earn them a playoff spot. Whether or not the committee rewards that ambition will say a lot about the future of college football scheduling.
One thing’s for sure: if teams start getting punished for playing the best, we may start seeing a lot less of those heavyweight early-season showdowns. And that would be a loss for everyone-players, coaches, and fans alike.