The Longhorns came in at No. 11 in the first edition of the rankings released by the selection committee this year.
Texas holds two victories over teams ranked in the field. The Longhorns topped No. 16 Vanderbilt last Saturday and handled No. 12 Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl last month.
If the season ended today, Texas would not crack the College Football Playoff bracket. Under the current format, the conference champions from the Power Four and the highest-ranked Group of Five team receive automatic bids. Since neither ACC nor the Group of Five placed a team in the top 12 in this version of the rankings, there would only be room for 10 at-large bids.
The Longhorns (7-2) have two big opportunities to move up. After a bye week, they’ll travel to No. 5 Georgia before hosting No. 3 Texas A&M to conclude the regular season.