Saturday’s 35-10 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs cratered the chances of the Texas Longhorns making the College Football Playoff, reflected in head coach Steve Sarkisian’s team dropping to No. 17 in Tuesday’s
release, the third released by the committee this season.
Texas is the highest-ranked three-loss team after suffering defeats to No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Georgia, although the road loss to Florida stands as the key difference between the Longhorns projecting into the 12-team field or sitting outside of it.
The other perspective is that the non-conference matchup against the Buckeyes in Columbus is the difference — if the Horns had played a beatable Power Four opponent, a two-loss Texas team could slot in the top 12 after beating No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 14 Vanderbilt.
It’s a hypothetical that doesn’t help the Longhorns because it’s buried in a scheduling calculation that won’t impact the near-term future with games set against the Buckeyes, Wolverines, and Fighting Irish over the next four seasons.
In the short term, Texas needs to win the final two regular-season games to have a chance at a third straight CFP appearance in addition to some upsets of teams ranked more highly.
The Horns are currently +1800 to make the playoff and -8000 to miss it on FanDuel.