Texas Longhorns, after defeating Texas A&M, are vying for a coveted College Football Playoff spot, sparking debate and support from Gov. Abbott.
AUSTIN, Texas — After beating archrival – and previously undefeated SEC foe – Texas A&M in their final regular season of the year, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian made his pitch why the Longhorns should make the College Football Playoff.
Ranked 16th in last week’s rankings, six spots below the last at large bid held by Alabama, UT put some chaos onto the CFP committee’s plates. Texas A&M has all but clinched a spot after going 11-1 in the SEC. It’s highly unlikely they would drop from No. 3 in the rankings to completely out of the top 12 in one week after one loss.
Texas Tech also pretty much solidified its spot in qualifying for the Big 12 Championship with an 11-1 record. They’ll play BYU, whom they already beat at home earlier this season, in a rematch. Even with a loss, the committee has said in the past that teams would not be “punished” for competing in conference championship games. They’ll likely get in as an at large team even if they lost to BYU.
Even North Texas can potentially make it this weekend if they win their conference championship against Tulane.
But Texas lies within that gray area of about eight teams vying for the final two at large spots in the playoff. Sarkisian’s argument for Texas being included has some merit, and even the governor has chimed in with his support.
“These are the CFP Principles. Texas is at the top of these criteria more than any team on the bubble,” Abbott posted on X.
The penultimate ranking will be released Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT. Where Texas lies in this ranking will essentially tell whether or not they’ll make the playoff. If the Longhorns don’t occupy one of the at large spots in this ranking, with no other games left to play, they’ll be out.
Grab your popcorn, people. There are about to be some ecstatic fan bases and really pissed off ones.