CFB Insider Projects Texas Will Face Historic Program in College Football Playoff

A year ago, even making the College Football Playoff was considered a stretch for Texas. Coming off an improved but still underwhelming 8-5 season, Steve Sarkisian’s program was expected to compete for a conference championship in its last year in the Big 12, but not necessarily a national championship.

That all changed after one September night in Tuscaloosa. With a resounding 34-24 upset victory over Alabama, then the No. 5 team in the nation, the Longhorns put the college football world on notice: Texas was back.

After falling a play short of returning to the national championship game, Texas now hopes and expects to end its 15-year drought of playing for a National Championship. Also different this year is the playoff itself, ballooning from the top four teams in the nation to twelve. Making up the twelve will be the top five conference champions, with the best four getting a first-round bye and seven at-large bids.

Andy Staples of On3 Sports, released his projected playoff bracket on social media and has an interesting outlook for Texas. He believes that not only will the Longhorns miss out on the conference championship bye, but also won’t make the SEC championship game in the school’s first year in the conference, as evidenced by Georgia, his predicted SEC champion, and Alabama being ranked ahead of Texas.

He thinks that Texas, presumably coming off a 10-2 season, will be the No. 7 seed and welcome the No. 10 seed Notre Dame, the only independent he projects to make the field. If the Fighting Irish were to visit Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium this December, it would mark the first time the teams have played since the Longhorns prevailed 50-47 in a back-and-forth double-overtime thriller in week one of the 2016 season, the only bright spot for Texas in an otherwise forgettable 5-7 season.

Interestingly, Notre Dame and Texas are tied for fourth in all-time wins at 948, but both are still without a College Football Playoff win despite three playoff appearances between them. The Fighting Irish have a 9-3 all-time record against the Longhorns, having won five out of the last six games in the series that dates back to 1913.

Here is Staples’ full predicted playoff field featuring a whopping five teams from the SEC:

First-round Byes:

No. 1 Ohio St, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Florida St., No. 4 Kansas St.

First-round matchups:

No. 12 Boise St. at No. 5 Alabama

No. 11 Tennessee at No. 6 Oregon

No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 7 Texas

No. 9 Michigan at No. 8 Ole Miss

Related: Steve Sarkisian Talks Texas’ Preparation For the SEC

As Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian has made it clear that he doesn’t want his players looking ahead, he has to hope his players ignore media predictions about the upcoming season, especially before a ball has been snapped.