Recently ESPN released their bowl predictions for the New Year’s Six and College Football Playoff matchups. While the Longhorns were listed among the teams for New Year’s Six, USA TODAY Sports wasn’t as kind to Texas in their predictions for the bowl games. Despite the 2-0 start, they aren’t expecting the Longhorns to continue with their winning ways and have some stumbles along the way.
Erick Smith added the Florida Gators to the CFP bracket along with Clemson, Alabama and Ohio State.
So where does that leave the College Football Playoff picture? The Big 12 continues to fall apart with Oklahoma losing and Texas barely surviving Texas Tech last Saturday. That would seem to help the Pac-12 in its bid to make the field after missing out the past three seasons. However, the league is only going to play seven games, putting it at a major disadvantage when the committee is also weighing at-large teams from the ACC or SEC.
The current bowl projections as Erick Smith see it. Big 12 teams are in bold.
| Jan. 1 | Rose Bowl | Ohio State vs Florida |
| Jan. 1 | Sugar Bowl | Clemson vs Alabama |
| Jan. 11 | CFP Title Game | Ohio State vs Alabama |
| Dec. 30 | Cotton Bowl | Oklahoma State vs Penn State |
| Jan. 1 | Peach Bowl | Miami (Fl) vs Central Florida |
| Jan. 2 | Orange Bowl | Notre Dame vs Georgia |
| Jan. 2 | Fiesta Bowl | Oregon vs Wisconsin |
| Dec. 29 | Alamo Bowl | Oklahoma vs Southern California |
| TBA | Texas Bowl | Iowa State vs Louisiana State |
| TBA | Cheez-It | Virginia Tech vs Texas |
Last season in the Cheez-It Bowl the Air Force Falcons and Washington State Cougars met in the first game. For the Longhorns, if they played Virginia Tech it would mark only the second meeting in their school’s history. They are one of the few teams that the Longhorns have never beaten, albeit after just one game.
Related: Teams the Longhorns have never beaten
For this type of game to happen for the Longhorns they would need to lose three games in all likeliness. Which would be a massively disappointing season and would likely put head coach Tom Herman under fire. As of now, the Longhorns are on the right trajectory provided they do a better job on the defensive side of the ball.