ESPN Insider has Texas as team to beat in College Football Playoff

New season, new expectations for the Texas Longhorns. And one of ESPN's leading college football analysts is piling those plans high.

Longtime ESPN writer and prognosticator Pete Thamel picked Texas to finish as the top seed in the first ever 12-member College Football Playoff in a preseason predictions interview for the network's College GameDay podcast.

“[Texas has] a favorable enough schedule — I think they catch Michigan at a good time (Week 2) to really take off on that. And then that isn’t, obviously, going to help them win the SEC championship, but I feel like that is going to give them confidence and really help them launch a season the same way going to Tuscaloosa into Week 2 last year really helped Texas.”

Thamel also specifically called out quarterback Quinn Ewers' talent and growth as reasons to believe in the Longhorns, who enter as frequently mentioned contenders to land in college football's postseason championship tournament for the second consecutive season.

You can see Thamel's full breakdown above. Texas fans, among others, will clearly be hoping that Thamel is seeing the future as clearly as he has in the past.