It’s Official: Texas Longhorns OUT of College Football Playoffs

It is over. The Texas Longhorns dream of going to three-straight College Football Playoffs has ended. The final CFP rankings and bracket have been released and UT is on the outside looking in. It turns out the loss at the Swamp to the Florida Gators was the biggest reason Texas was kept out of the final bracket.

UT’s final ranking is No. 13. Texas isn’t even the “first team out.” That is Notre Dame, who were edged out of the CFP by the Miami Hurricanes. The ‘Canes beat the Fighting Irish in Week 1, but only jumped Notre Dame in the final bracket. UT isn’t even the “second team out.” That honor goes to BYU, who were blown out in the Big 12 title game to Texas Tech.

The Longhorns own an overall record of 9-3, 6-2 in the SEC. The final loss of the season, in Athens to the Georgia Bulldogs, was the final straw for the Longhorns CFP hopes, but the inexcusable loss to the Gators is why the Longhorns missed the tournament.

Miami replaced Notre Dame as the final at-large selection and James Madison made the field as a second Group of Five representative in the final College Football Playoff rankings.

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The Florida game was the first SEC game of the year. Texas had already lost at Ohio State and struggled at times to San Jose State and UTEP, two teams UT should have blasted. After handling hapless Sam Houston State, the Horns started an entire month on the road in Gainesville. It didn’t go well.

The Gators whipped Texas in all three phases, offense, defense and special teams to beat UT 29-21. Despite one of the worst performances under coach Steve Sarkisian, Texas still had a chance to win down the stretch. But time after time, mistakes were made and penalties were committed all over the field. Texas even gave up a safety on a blocked punt.

Manning was mostly inaccurate all day, over-throwing receivers that would have had touchdowns with even a decent throw. He hit a few deep balls, but overall he was 16 of 29 for 263 yards. He threw two touchdowns and two killer interceptions. He was also sacked six times.

Texas dropped completely out of both the AP Top 25 after the Florida loss. But the season turned around the next week against Red River Rival Oklahoma in Dallas, winning 23-6.

Texas was perfect for weeks. Despite white-knuckle games against Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, the Longhorns continued to win until the trip to Athens. Georgia has been UT’s boogyman so far in Texas’ SEC tenure. The Bulldogs 35-10 victory effectively ended the Longhorns CFP pursuit.

But the loss to Florida, who fired coach Billy Napier two weeks later, meant Texas had to be perfect the rest of the year. And while Sark and other connected with the program pointed out the non-conference loss to Ohio State shouldn’t be held against UT. Despite the appearance that the committee was sending a larger message to college football as a whole that playing tough non-conference games could be a detriment to CFP hopes, Texas would be in the CFP if they had simply beaten a subpar Florida team.

Indiana, Ohio State, Georgia and Texas Tech claimed the top four seeds. The Hoosiers beat the Buckeyes in the Big Ten title game and are the only unbeaten team in the Bowl Subdivision. The at-large selections were No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Mississippi, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 9 Alabama and No. 10 Miami.

Rounding out the 12-team field were two teams from the Group of Five in No. 11 seed Tulane and No. 12 seed James Madison. Indiana, Georgia, Ohio State and Texas Tech will have a bye to the quarterfinals.