The Longhorns were just one ranking short of reaching the College Football Playoffs for the third-consecutive year following weeks of debate on their return.
AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 13 Texas Longhorns were one of the first teams out of the final College Football Playoff rankings, marking the first time they’ve missed out on a bid in the last three seasons.
They will play against Michigan in Orlando in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, which typically takes the best SEC team that doesn’t make the playoff bracket. That game will take place on New Year’s Eve and will air live on KVUE.
Texas is still well represented in the 12-team format, with Texas Tech claiming the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye. Tech’s first game in the playoff will be against whichever team wins the matchup between No. 5 seed Oregon and No. 12 seed James Madison.
Texas A&M claimed a home game, coming in at the No. 7 seed. The Aggies will take on the No. 10 seed, the Miami Hurricanes, in the first round.
Full seedings
Here’s a full breakdown of the 12 teams headed to the College Football Playoff:
- Indiana Hoosiers (13-0)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (12-1)
- Georgia Bulldogs (12-1)
- Texas Tech Red Raiders (12-1)
- Oregon Ducks (11-1)
- Ole Miss Rebels (11-1)
- Texas A&M Aggies (11-1)
- Oklahoma Sooners (10-2)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (10-3)
- Miami Hurricanes (10-2)
- Tulane Green Wave (11-2)
- James Madison Dukes (12-1)
Notre Dame was the first team out, followed by Brigham Young, and Texas at No. 13.
The Fighting Irish dropped two notches in the rankings over the last two weeks despite a 10-game winning streak, winning their finale by 29 points and sitting on the couch Saturday.
Alabama didn’t move at all in the CFP rankings after a 28-7 loss to Georgia that looked worse than that, but that the committee didn’t count that against the Tide in keeping with a hazy policy that refrains from penalizing teams for playing in their league title game.
Miami didn’t play either, but the Hurricanes’ win over Notre Dame in Week 1 played a role in their move once the teams were grouped right next to each other after BYU lost its game on Saturday. Committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said he directed the committee to rewatch Miami’s win over Notre Dame way back on Aug. 31.
“Once we moved Miami ahead of BYU, we had the side-by-side comparison that eveyrone had been hungy for,” Committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said.
The committee’s other key decision was choosing James Madison over Duke for the final spot, a selection that left the Atlantic Coast Conference champion out of the mix, but didn’t fully exclude the ACC because of Miami’s move into the bracket.
Yurachek insisted that including the ACC – one of the Power Four conferences – in the playoff in some form played no role in the deliberations.
The rest of the field includes No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Texas Tech, which joined Indiana in getting first-round byes. Then it was No. 5 Oregon, followed by Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Alabama, Miami, Tulane and James Madison.
The playoffs start Dec. 19-20 with first round games: James Madison at Oregon; Tulane at Misssissippi; Miami at Texas A&M; and Alabama at Oklahoma.
The final is set for Jan. 19 outside of Miami.
KENS and KHOU contributed to this report.
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