If they want to reach the College Football Playoff for the third straight year, the Texas Longhorns will need to leapfrog some Wolverines, Commodores and Utes.
Texas is ranked 16th in the newest College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday evening. Texas was 17th in last week’s rankings.
Twelve teams will qualify for the playoff, but Texas (8-3, 5-2 SEC) likely needs to earn a top-10 ranking if it wants to secure an at-large bid since five conference champions will automatically qualify for the CFP. On Tuesday, No. 11 BYU was omitted from the CFP committee’s projected playoff bracket in favor of Tulane, the projected American Conference champion.
College Football Playoff rankings Nov. 18
A win over the undefeated Aggies would pad the Longhorns’ resumé since they’ve already beaten Oklahoma and Vanderbilt this season. Two of the Longhorns’ losses have come at Ohio State and Georgia, but the playoff prospects at Texas have also been dimmed by the team’s setback against an unimpressive Florida team Oct. 4.