Texas coach Steve Sarkisian doesn’t care about the polls, and he sure doesn’t care about mathematical projections. But it’s interesting to see which team still has the perceived inside track to go the distance undefeated.

Hint: it’s not Alabama or Tennessee.

ESPN still projects second-ranked Texas (5-0, 1-0 SEC) to have the best shot at finishing unbeaten this season even with a huge Red River Showdown game against Oklahoma coming next followed by a home date with Georgia.

The Longhorns are statistically favored to win the rest of their regular season games, and as ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrote, “The Horns don’t really have a weakness.”

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Here’s how Texas football plans to spend the off week getting ready for Red River rival Oklahoma

How important is the Texas off week? Look at it this way: if the Longhorns go all the way to the national championship game, the season will take up almost half a year. Crazy, but it’s true. Texas started training camp on July 31, and if they make it to the Jan. 20 finale, the […]

“The run game could stand to be more explosive, but they make up for that with extreme run efficiency (third in rushing success rate),” Connelly wrote for ESPN+. “The offensive line does commit too many penalties, but I’m not sure that’s a sustainable thing. The Longhorns are third in offensive SP+ despite playing a backup QB — albeit a backup named Manning — for most of three games, and they’re up to eighth in defensive SP+ too. A

“After a bye week, they’ve got Oklahoma and Georgia back-to-back, so we’ll learn everything we need to about their big-game capabilities, but this team has gotten nearly straight A’s thus far.”

ESPN’s matchup predictor gives Texas an 86.3% chance of beating Oklahoma, followed by a 66.6% chance of beating Georgia at Royal-Memorial Stadium.

As of now, Texas has an 84.2% chance of beating rival Texas A&M in the regular-season finale at Kyle Field.

Texas HC Steve Sarkisian searching for this specific character trait on the recruiting trail

The bye week is a chance for Texas football coaches to fan out and see high school recruits in their environment by playing on Friday night. “It’s always a good thing when you get to go on the road undefeated and recruit,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “It’s kind of like they roll out the […]

As for the rest of the field, ESPN has Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio State and Penn State has the next four teams with the best odds to finish unbeaten. There are only 19 unbeaten teams left in FBS play.

The most intriguing team on the list? No. 14 UNLV. The Rebels made national news last week when their starting quarterback quit over an NIL dispute. But coach Barry Odom simply turned the reigns over to FCS transfer Hajj-Malik Williams, who threw for 182 yards in a 59-14 statement win over Fresno State.

“Trading (Matthew) Sluka for Williams probably made UNLV a better passing team, and it seems both the run game and dynamic defense remain strong,” Connally said. “The Rebels are now 20th in points per drive and 12th in points allowed per drive. Getting to 12-0 will require beating Syracuse, Oregon State and Boise State, among others, but this is a well-rounded and exciting team.”