The debate around why the Texas Longhorns are at No. 13 in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings released on Tuesday and behind two teams that they beat and two more teams that they lost to continues, with scheduling ramifications for major programs around the country.
Are the Longhorns firmly on the outside looking in?
Not according to Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek, a member the College Football Playoff committee, in declining to officially eliminate Texas.
So consider head coach Steve Sarkisian’s program merely effectively eliminated as Yurachek pointed to the Florida loss at the biggest factor in the team’s No. 13 ranking.
“The committee has a great deal of respect for TExas and they’ve played an incredible schedule. They’ve got four team they played in our top 10. They beat OU on a neutral field. They just beat Texas A&M at home this past weekend. They lost to No. 1 Ohio State and lost to No. 3 Georgia,” Yurachek said.
“But one key stat this week in the teams ranked in our top 15, there’s 17 total losses for those teams, 16 team of those losses came against teams that are currently ranked or have been ranked in our top 25 this year. The only loss to an unranked team was Texas’ loss to Florida at Florida, and really Florida dominated that game, held Texas to 50 yards rushing, two interceptions. So it’s not that Texas played Ohio State, it is Texas’ loss to Florida that’s holding them back now.”