Texas Longhorns in a surprising spot in Joel Klatt’s latest updated College Football Playoff bracket
The FOX Sports analyst is still a believer in Texas. But how much of a believer?
FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt did his due diligence this off-season and predicted how he thought the 2025 College Football Playoff would shake out. Spoiler alert: he was very wrong. He wasn’t along, though, a lot of folks were wrong after the results of the first month of the season. Klatt even admitted “it was garbage” after picking multi-loss Clemson to win the national title.
But, Klatt shocked everyone again this week with his latest CFP projections. The Texas Longhorns are the No. 4 overall seed in his bracket – meaning Steve Sarkisian’s squad is projected to win the Southeastern Conference, per Klatt.
“I tried to do it as much like the committee as I possibly could,” Klatt said during Wednesday’s episode of The Joel Klatt Show podcast. “There you go, the October bracket prediction. Let’s hope it’s better than the original. … We already know it was terrible. I had Clemson winning the national championship. It was garbage.”
Joel Klatt made it clear why he had a brand new Top 4 which included Texas.
“It’s not just the four-best champions that get these Top 4 seeds and the byes, it’s just going to be seeded 1-12 and the best four teams in the country will get the byes. So I think Oregon will be one of those, particularly if they face Ohio State as an undefeated.”
There are four other SEC teams in his field. Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Georgia, and Alabama all made the cut. He is high on the Rebels and has Lane Kiffin hosting Notre Dame in the first round.
“Ole Miss is going to have a great chance to play for the SEC championship and if they do, even if they lose, six would be a low-end for them from a seed perspective. … (And) I think Notre Dame comes all the way back and they get into this thing. … If they run the table, they get in.”
Joel Klatt’s CFP 12-team bracket as of October 1
- No. 1 Ohio State
- No. 2 Miami
- No. 3 Oregon
- No. 4 Texas
- No. 5 Texas Tech
- No. 6 Ole Miss
- No. 7 Texas A&M
- No. 8 Alabama
- No. 9 Penn State
- No. 10 Georgia
- No. 11 Notre Dame
- No. 12 USF
As of today, Texas has a 51 percent chance to make the CFP field.
ESPN revealed its CFP Predictor feature and the Longhorns are still in the mix. On3’s Grant Grubbs gave his take as well.
“Texas A&M isn’t the only team from the Lone Star State that could be vying for a CFP bid later this year,” Grubbs said. “The Longhorns have won three consecutive games since falling to Ohio State in their season-opener.
“While quarterback Arch Manning still isn’t playing like a future No. 1 pick, he’s taken significant strides in the right direction. In Texas’ 55-0 win over Sam Houston State in Week 4, Manning logged 309 passing yards and three touchdowns, along with two rushing scores.”