The College Football Playoff rankings are set to release Tuesday night. The Texas Longhorns are expected to stay toward the top of the rankings.
The debate this week will revolve around where to place Texas and Alabama after this week’s results. Some have written off Texas’ fourth quarter domination of Alabama in Tuscaloosa as an irrelevant early season performance. It’s uncertain the playoff committee will view it that way.
Both Alabama and Texas earned road wins over ranked opponents this week at home. Alabama knocked off highly regarded LSU (6-3), while Texas prevailed over Kansas State (6-3) in overtime.
The rankings will provide insight into the value of scheduling premier opponents in nonconference. If the result of early season games do not matter, the Longhorns could have put the time they allocated to beating Alabama to better use this offseason.
If the 10-point win over the Crimson Tide has lost all value by Week 11 it’s unclear why the Longhorns should have even scheduled the game. Perhaps the team could have spent the offseason preparing for Oklahoma rather than Alabama.
Fortunately for Texas, the playoff committee will likely put adequate value on the Longhorns’ signature resume-building win. We will find out where the team lands in Tuesday’s Week 11 ranking.