If you told someone earlier this summer that the Texas Longhorns would be almost effectively eliminated from the College Football Playoff and sit at 7-3 heading into the Arkansas game, many would spit out their drink and begin to laugh hysterically.
Sometimes, though, the most outlandish and far-fetched works of fiction can become reality. The Georgia game taught me two things — teams really do have each other’s numbers and that Texas is not a playoff team this year — or should not be.
There has been some conjecture online, specifically on the wonderful platform of X, formerly known as Twitter, about whether the Longhorns should cancel their remaining Power Four opponents if they are penalized for their loss against Ohio State.
Yes, the loss hurts Texas’ resume in the committee’s eyes. But at the same time, if the Longhorns were able to sneak out that win, it would’ve strengthened their chances. It’s so silly to believe that removing big time games from the schedule would have helped their standings in the playoff conversation.
Look at James Madison this season, they were left off the most recent CFP rankings simply because their strength of schedule was weaker compared to Tulane’s in the eyes of the committee.
Anyhow, Texas cannot drop those games, even if it wanted to. When the Southeastern Conference announced it would move to a nine-game conference schedule, in the same release, teams would be required to play at least one “high-quality” opponent a season.
Let’s circle back to the present moment. It is very bold to assume that the Longhorns will end the year at 9-3. That is, if Texas comes out on top against Arkansas and Texas A&M to close out the season. But this team has proven to be far too inconsistent to boldly assume they will end the year with just three losses.
As Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian noted earlier this week, the Arkansas game is a trap game for the Longhorns and that is something this team does not need at this moment in time. The Razorbacks enter Saturday with just two wins on the year and winless in conference play. Despite the less-than-stellar results, Arkansas has certainly played tough teams this season.
The same Razorbacks lost to Tennessee, Texas A&M and Mississippi State by just a field goal, with just last week dropping the “Battle of the Boot” against LSU by one point.
It is almost certain that Arkansas will play this team tough because they have nothing else to lose at this point in the season. That, along with the obvious, it’s always fun for opposing teams to get one over the Longhorns, especially in Austin.
Already out of the SEC conference title game, these next two games and the following couple of weeks will feel like an eternity for the Longhorns as they await their fate in the playoff or the various bowls they could be assigned.
There are two paths; if Texas wins out and gets some outside help, they could sneak in at 10, the last at-large bid in the playoff. The second option, drop one more game, and they’ll be in the running for the Texas or Gator Bowls.
