In the second to last College Football Playoff ranking, the committee still has Texas at No. 7.
Ohio State and Oregon are currently ranked ahead of Texas at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively. Despite suffering a loss to Michigan on Saturday, Ohio State is somehow still ranked higher than Texas.
The reason Oregon is still ahead of Texas doesn’t make much sense when you look at the numbers. The Longhorns have:
- More ranked wins than Oregon (including arguably the best win in college football)
- A higher strength of schedule
- A better strength of record
- A better win against a common opponent (Texas Tech)
According to the College Football Playoff committee criteria, they’re supposed to take into account head-to-head matchups, common opponents, conference championships, and strength of schedule.
Texas’ best win of the season was against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, in which they won by double digits. Texas is the only team to ever do that against Alabama in the Nick Saban era.
It appears that the CFP committee is valuing Oregon’s wins against weaker teams over Texas’ wins against stronger opponents.
Despite terrible rankings by the committee, Texas’ path to the College Football Playoff remains the same: win on Saturday and hope Florida State loses to Louisville.