Texas news: Longhorns ranked most likely to reach CFP by ESPN analyst

In the first season with Arch Manning as the starting quarterback of Texas football, the Longhorns finished 10-3, missing the College Football Playoffs, but winning the Citrus Bowl. Still, expectations are for Manning to continue to improve and for Texas to make a run at the playoffs.

Now, Heather Dinich of ESPN is ranking the 31 teams she sees as potential playoff teams, and Texas ranks number one according to Dinich.

“Texas has everything in place to live up to the hype this year, and it has all the ingredients to impress the College Football Playoff selection committee. Because Texas will have home-field advantage over Ohio State in Week 2, it has a slight edge here in these rankings. The analytics favor Ohio State, though, as the team with the best chance to reach the CFP,” Dinich wrote.

Texas will open its season on September 5 against Texas State, before its biggest game of the season on September 12. That game is at home against Ohio State.  A win against the potential Big Ten Champions would go a long way to help their playoff chances.

“A win against the eventual Big Ten champions. That’s the kind of résumé boost that could earn Texas the No. 1 seed, especially if it’s a close call between the two teams,” Dinich also notes.

Still, there are plenty of chances for Texas to falter on the schedule, another thing noted by ESPN.

“If Texas loses a close game at home to Ohio State, it’s not going to knock the Longhorns out of the CFP field. If Texas goes on to struggle against weaker teams like it did last year, though, the Horns could again find themselves on the bubble. Last year, the committee discussed how Texas needed overtime to beat both Kentucky and Mississippi State, two teams that combined for a 10-15 record. That was in addition to the loss to Florida, which fired its coach,” Dinnich continued.

Texas will be a contender to win it all this year if Arch Manning takes the next step.