Expert analyst says Longhorns still have a path to the College Football Playoff, but ‘it’s hard to imagine’
Texas fell to No. 17 after a blowout loss to Georgia, but Paul Finebaum says the Longhorns still have a slim College Football Playoff path if they win out.
Texas looked lifeless Saturday night in Athens. The Longhorns managed just 23 rushing yards, surrendered 21 fourth-quarter points, and stumbled to a 35-10 blowout loss against Georgia that felt worse than the final score suggested. By Sunday morning, Texas had dropped to 7-3 overall and slid all the way to No. 17 in the rankings — a spot where most teams quietly fade from College Football Playoff contention.
But award-winning sports columnist Paul Finebaum isn’t ready to write them off.
The Longhorns have one lifeline left
Finebaum spent Saturday night obsessively watching the scoreboard, hoping for a BYU loss that would’ve dragged Texas back into his playoff bracket. When the Cougars survived, the math got harder — but not impossible. “Had BYU lost, Texas would have moved back into my bracket,” he said. “So, no, they’re not out of the conversation, but they do need to continue to win out and they might need some help with it.”
That path starts with Arkansas this weekend and ends with a rivalry game against No. 3 Texas A&M on November 30. If they can beat A&M, they’ll own a signature win that most bubble teams can’t match. And after watching the Aggies labor through their own close call Saturday, Finebaum thinks it’s more than just a pipe dream. “After you saw A&M play yesterday, you can start to think if somehow Texas can get home safely from Athens and get regenerated, they have a very good chance of winning that game,” he said.
It will take more than hope. Texas was overwhelmed by a Georgia defensive front that had struggled to sack quarterbacks all year. “They did whatever they wanted to Arch Manning,” Finebaum said. Texas must now rebuild confidence in real time while cleaning up the explosive plays it has allowed all season.
Still, Finebaum refused to sell his stock in the program’s long-term trajectory. When asked whether Texas should regret leaving the Big 12, he pushed back hard. “What a prisoner of the moment question,” he said. “Do I need to remind you that Texas was in the semifinals last year on the goal line against Ohio State?” That said, Finebaum isn’t ignoring how far Texas has fallen. “They just looked so bad last night that it’s hard to imagine them overcoming all of this,” he said.
While the path does exist (at least in theory), the odds say it’s almost impossible.
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