The wait is finally over for fans across the country. The first official College Football Playoff rankings of the 2026 season drop Tuesday. ESPN will air the selection show in primetime, giving everyone a clear look at where the teams stand. For the Texas Longhorns, this moment feels like a big temperature check after a rocky start to conference play. The team sits at 6-2 overall with a 3-2 record in the SEC, and they need to see how the committee views their chances.
Steve Sarkisian knows the road ahead is steep. His squad has three wins against top-15 teams (at the time of their wins), including Ohio State and Tennessee. However, those losses to Florida and Oklahoma hurt their standing. Last year, the team missed the cut with a 9-3 record (10-3 after their Bowl win), so a 10-2 finish might be the bare minimum to get in. The committee will decide if those big wins outweigh the bad losses. It is a tough call for the folks in charge.
The Schedule Sets the Stage
Some experts say the rest of the season will change the sport forever. ESPN’s Matt Barrie calls the final month a “tipping point” for college football. He believes the matchups left on the schedule will decide the champion on the field, not just in a meeting room. “We have four weekends left in the regular season … the schedule-makers did their job because they’re giving us an all-time weekend in the first weekend of November,” he said Sunday on his podcast, The Matt Barrie Show, according to Yahoo Sports.
Barrie wants the committee to look at actual performance instead of just win-loss records. With so many teams having multiple losses, the old rules might not apply. He hopes the panel digs deep to see who really played well. “Now we get to the point where we think, based on the matchups, it’ll be settled on the field,” he said. If the committee ignores the games and just looks at the standings, fans might get angry. This season has been wild with upsets, and a good champion needs to earn it.
What Texas Needs to Do
The Longhorns face a tough stretch before the season ends. They must play two more ranked opponents, No. 19 Missouri and No. 15 LSU, before closing out with Arkansas and Texas A&M. If Texas wins all four games, their spot in the playoff looks safe. But one more loss could put their hopes in serious danger. Sarkisian has asked the committee to value strength of schedule, noting that every SEC team already has a loss.
The coach wonders how much weight the panel puts on beating good teams versus just having a clean record. “Because here we are, last week at the halfway mark of conference play, and every (SEC) team already had a loss,” Sarkisian said, according to Yahoo Sports. “And there are really good teams with multiple losses already, and so what is it really going to look like when there are 9-3 SEC teams compared to 10-2 or even 11-1 teams from other conferences,” he added. The answer comes Tuesday night. Fans will watch closely to see if Arch Manning and the boys get the respect they deserve.
