Texas fans don’t have to wait until Tuesday night’s College Football Playoff show to know where their team stands now.

The Longhorns, who started No. 5 in the first CFP rankings, control their own destiny in the SEC conference race and now have the inside track to a potential first-round bye in the CFP.

Saturday’s 49-17 win over Florida was great. But Texas coaches and players got more big news as the day wore on. The two teams ahead of the Horns both lost.

Down goes No. 3 Georgia to No. 16 Ole Miss. Adios, No. 4 Miami, courtesy of Georgia Tech.

The SEC conference tiebreaker is a complicated mess to understand. One scenario had six teams finishing with 10-2 records. But none of that matters now.

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Texas, 8-1 overall, is 4-1 in SEC play. Tennessee and Texas A&M are 5-1 in league play.

Texas finishes the regular season with Arkansas (5-4, 3-3 SEC), Kentucky (3-6, 1-6) and Texas A&M. Win those three games, and the Horns will be one of the two teams in the SEC title game.

Now, who would Texas play in Atlanta? It could be Tennessee, but nothing’s guaranteed.

The Vols must travel to face the Georgia Bulldogs this week before closing with UTEP and Vanderbilt. So this Saturday’s game between the hedges may determine one SEC title game opponent.

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Over in the visitor’s locker room Saturday, Florida coach Billy Napier looked forlorn and said, “We just flat out have to play better.” The Gators just flat out got worn out by the fifth-ranked Texas Longhorns. “Look, we struggled to get anything going early,” Napier said. “We scored three times in the second half. But […]

But how does all this affect the CFP? Remember, only conference champions can get a guaranteed first-round bye. Texas has to win the SEC to get one of the top four spots and advance to the quarterfinals. But the Horns have a clear path to the title game at this point, which is the first major step.

Don’t expect Texas coach Steve Sarkisian to talk about the CFP this week or much at all this month. His team has plenty of work this week with a road trip to Arkansas.

But it has to be in the back of his mind. That’s why Sarkisian was pushing the Horns to get their mojo back against the Gators. He sees a lane opening to the postseason.

“Sometimes that middle stretch of the season, you can feel like you’re just kind of going through the motions,” Sarkisian said after Saturday’s win, “and like I was telling (media) this week, I felt like this was a great week of practice, because I could hear us. Like, we were having fun on the practice field.”

There could be a whole lot more fun ahead.