The outrage is palpable. You turn on the television, pull up your social media outlet of choice or look at any article talking about the college football playoffs and you don’t have to wait long to see the question asked, ‘Who has Texas beaten?’
It sends fans of teams like Georgia into a tizzy.
“We beat them by 15, in Austin! Why are we ranked below them?”
There is no denying that Texas lost at home to Georgia.
There is no denying that Texas does not have a single win over a top-25 team (we’re looking at you Michigan and OU).
There is no denying that Texas’ strength of schedule is below that of some of the two-loss teams ranked below them.
But here is what all of those people ranting and raving (we’re looking at you Booger McFarland) have missed out on ... they are asking the wrong question.
You can look at every team below Texas in the rankings and come up with a litany of questions that justify them being below the Horns.
Georgia, if you’re so darn good, what were you doing giving up 30 first-half points to Alabama? If you’re such a juggernaut, why could you only muster 245 yards and 10 points against Ole Miss?
What about you Bama? What are you doing losing to Vanderbilt? You let the Commodores run up and down the field against you and gave up 40 points. If Jalen Milroe is the reincarnation of Joe Namath, how come he led the team to only 17 points in the loss to Tennessee?
And you, Ole Miss. You are the most befuddling of them all. What the heck are you doing losing to Kentucky? The Wildcats have exactly one conference win this season and it’s against you. Almost as crazy was the overtime loss to LSU. What is going on late in games that your defense seems to brain fart and you lose late leads to inferior teams?
Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss are all incredibly good teams. You can pull up just about any advanced metric you want to confirm that. But you need look no further than the win/loss record to confirm that you’re not perfect.
“We just looked at them (Texas) and thought — and came out, I should say, with them at 3,” said College Football Playoff selection committee chairman Warde Manuel. “It’s nothing against Georgia. Georgia is a great team, but they did struggle against Ole Miss at Ole Miss but had a great win this past week against Tennessee. We will continue to monitor both teams and see how it goes in the next few weeks.”
Forget who has Texas lost to. What about, who have you lost to? Or, who has Texas NOT lost to?
You know who Texas hasn’t lost to? They haven’t lost to Colorado State (which is on the verge of making the Mountain West Conference championship game). They haven’t lost to Michigan. They haven’t lost to UTSA, UL Monroe, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Florida and Arkansas.
There is NO truly embarrassing loss on Texas résumé.
Texas has, for the most part, handled its business.
The Horns have gone out each and every week and did what they needed to win.
When the Texas offense was struggling in Fayetteville last week, the defense did what it’s done all season and shut the Razorbacks down. Arkansas has the second-best total offense in the SEC, but not against Texas. And the offense came through in the end. When Arkansas looked like it was finally waking up, Texas responded with a touchdown drive to make it a two-score game again and then they put together a nearly seven-minute drive to ice the game.
Texas did not let the emotions of the loss to Georgia carry over the next week to Vanderbilt. The Commodores needed a last-minute touchdown (which only came after a bone-headed penalty which did not impact the play wiped out a pick-six) to make that game look much more respectable than it was.
Texas did not let “The Big House” intimidate them as the Horns gave Michigan one of their worst losses of the season (the 19-point margin of defeat is comparable to the 21-point margin of defeat Oregon scored against them).
Texas has handled its business.
And you know who has taken notice of that while asking all of the right questions? The CFP selection committee.
“Well, obviously Georgia has a very good win at Texas, but as the committee analyzed the body of work of Texas versus where Georgia is at the present time with two losses, even to top-25 teams, we came out that Texas was still a very strong team deserving of a 3 seed,” said Warde Manuel, the CFP selection committee co-chair. “They have a top-5 defense. Quinn Ewers is leading one of the top passing offenses in the country.”
Ward mentioned how strong Texas is, including the elite defense. When you look at all of the advanced metrics, Texas is one of the top teams in the country in just about every one of them.
FEI RATINGS:
Overall: 3rd
Offensive: 11th
Defensive: 1ST
Special Teams: 46th
SP+ RANKINGS:
Overall: 3rd
Offensive: 5th
Defensive: 2nd
Special Teams: 106th
Apart from the special teams, which was pretty eye-opening when I saw those numbers, Texas has shown itself to be elite and worthy of the rankings it currently holds.
Of course, none of this matters if Texas goes out and loses to Kentucky this week (just like Ole Miss did and Georgia almost did).
“I think this is the biggest game of the season coming up,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday during his weekly press conference. “Kentucky’s a really good football team. They have played their best football against the best teams they’ve competed against. Whether it’s been Ole Miss, Georgia, Tennessee, they’ve played really well.”
When the schedule was released back in the spring, I tabbed Kentucky as the biggest trap game of the year. It comes right after the renewed rivalry game with Arkansas and right before the epic showdown with Texas A&M.
But Sarkisian said he’s not worried about this being a trap game.
“I envision us putting our best foot forward, I really do. I think our guys are going to come out ready to play,” Sarkisian said. “Our conference is extremely challenging and it’s going to come down to the last weekend, and that’s the way it’s got to go. That’s why I say this weekend for us is the biggest game of the year, to try to put ourselves in position for the last weekend.”
As long as Sark and the boys handle their business, then those people questioning their rankings will have to find something else to bitch and whine about. And on that, I’m 100 percent certain they’ll find or manufacture something to complain about … but it won’t be Texas’s position in the College Football Playoffs because the Horns will have earned their spot.
Just handle your business.
AROUND THE SEC:
Talk about trap games, there are a couple of potential upsets lurking on the SEC calendar this week.
TEXAS A&M @ AUBURN
The Aggies are 8-2, 5-1 in conference and control their own destiny to make the SEC Championship Game. But could they be overlooking the lowly Auburn Tigers and peeking ahead to the Thanksgiving weekend showdown against Texas?
Somehow the farmers are only 2.5-point favorites against War Eagle.
Auburn is actually ranked above A&M in both total offense and total defense. The Tigers are particularly strong against the run, giving up 104.5 yards per game (third best in the league).
The run game is Texas A&M’s bread and butter, rushing for 212.5 yards per game (2nd best in the SEC). Of course, that’s partly because A&M is so bad at passing the ball.
But fear not Aggie fans. Your head coach Mike Elko says he and his team are focused solely on
Plus, as @a_hornsfan will tell you, road games at night in the SEC can be a real headache.
This game could be a real struggle for A&M.
But the question Texas fans have to ask is, does A&M winning this game benefit Texas? I’m not telling you to root for the Aggies to win (no good comes from cheering for them), but a win would make a potential Texas victory over the Aggies look better.
OLE MISS @ FLORIDA
Ole Miss should, and probably will, win this game handily. But you have to be impressed with Florida’s grit. They responded to a blowout loss to Texas with a big win over LSU. In fact, apart from that trip to Austin, the Gators have been showing more life in the second half of the season.
Is it enough to take down one of the top teams in the country? Probably not. But a Gator win at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium this weekend wouldn’t be the biggest upset of the season.
VANDERBILT @ LSU
Technically, this would be an upset because the Tigers are 7.5-point favorites. Plus, as mentioned above, they’re playing at home at night. So all of that is going against the Commodores. But both teams have identical 6-4 records (3-3 in conference play).
Vandy has also proven they’re capable of beating just about anyone in this league while LSU has proven they are much softer than most people think they are.
LSU has lost three in a row and done so in pretty convincing fashion.
Texas A&M: 38
LSU: 23
Alabama: 42
LSU: 13
Florida: 27
LSU: 16
I don’t bet on sports, but if I did, I wouldn’t bet against Diego Pavia to at least keep this game close, if not pull off the “upset.”
CONFERENCE GAMES THAT DON’T OFFER MUCH INTRIGUE:
ALABAMA @ OU
Oh sure, anything could happen – I guess. And this game is being played in Norman. But c’mon. The Sooners aren’t going to win this one.
MISSOURI @ MISSISSIPPI STATE
Can the Bulldogs pull off the upset in Starksville and pick up their first conference win of the season? Probably not.
Missouri looked like it played its best game of the year last week, despite losing to South Carolina.
WHY ARE THESE GAMES EVEN BEING PLAYED?
UMASS @ GEORGIA
UTEP @ TENNESSEE
WOFFORD @ SOUTH CAROLINA
LOUISIANA TECH @ ARKANSAS
TWEETS OF INTEREST:
Speaking of Kentucky.
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For all of the talk about Texas’ schedule, Penn State has not caught a lot of flack. Of course, they haven’t suffered that embarrassing loss either so good on them.
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It is going to be a full day of incredible football on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
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Mike Elko may be looking ahead to Texas, but don’t tell that to this guy.
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The Texas defense has been nothing short of special this year. And for the third year in a row, a defensive tackle who was stuck behind others, came on to have a phenomenal senior season and put himself in position to go high in the draft.
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Tom Herman got fired at FAU this week and now the school may already have his replacement plan.
I never understood why Tom Herman took the FAU job. I know it is in a recruiting hotbed, but that is still not an easy place to win. Now, Herman will be struggling to find a good job coming out of this debacle. He’s going to probably need to go back to being an offensive coordinator someplace.
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College football realignment has definitely changed the game.
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If you want to get an up-close and personal look at Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders, he’s coming to Frisco.
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This is a pretty good breakdown of the fiasco on the LSU sidelines last week.
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Shane Beamer never forgets.
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This about sums it all up.
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