The 12-team College Football Playoff is getting closer and closer, which means the selection committee's final decision is right around the corner. while 12 teams will be thrilled to have the chance to play for a national championship, but some others will be left heartbroken.
One team that looks like it's going to end up on the wrong side of the cut line is Texas, which has nine losses but a very complicated resume for a number of reasons. The Longhorns will almost certainly be the highest-ranked team to finish the regular season with three losses when the next rankings come out on Tuesday night, but they are still a longshot to make the CFP.
One of those three losses came in the season-opener back in August on the road against Ohio State in one of the marquee matchups of the entire season. Since beating Texas 14-7 in a high-level slugfest, the Buckeyes have established themselves as the clear No. 1 team in the nation.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian understandably doesn't think that game should be held against his team, especially when other highly-ranked teams played cupcakes outside of conference play. On Monday, after finishing the regular season with an impressive win over previously-unbeaten Texas A&M, Sarkisian pondered whether playing big games outside of conference play is worth the risk of missing out on the CFP.
#Texas HC Steve Sarkisian was asked whether the #Longhorns should reconsider scheduling marquee non-conference matchups (like opening the season against No. 1 Ohio State), given the possibility that such games could hurt their chances of making the College Football Playoff. pic.twitter.com/8iK5SfJ8rY
— OnTexasFootball (@ontexasfootball) December 1, 2025
“We want to play these great games and it's great for TV,” Sarkisian said. “16 million people watched that game (against Ohio State). But we've gotta be mindful of the fact that we've played five top-10 ranked teams. The next-closest team ahead of us has played two, and then there's multiple teams ahead of us that have played none, but yet they've got a little better record. They're 10-2 as opposed to 9-3.
“At that point, if we're just staring at a record, we've gotta try to put ourselves in a better position to get a better record, as opposed to playing really good teams and then get better as the season goes on and go 6-2 in the SEC against the quality of opponents that we played. That's just something we need to be mindful of.”
Sarkisian does have a point, but his squad also lost to a Florida team that finished the season 4-8 after firing its head coach in October, so both sides have an argument here.
Regardless of who is right, Texas is most likely going to be on the outside looking in next Sunday when the bracket is finalized. If and when that happens, non-conference schedules in college football may never be the same.
