Is Texas football … back?
If you base that answer on a dominant second-half performance from Arch Manning and Co. against No. 3 Texas A&M (No. 3 in College Football Playoff rankings) then the answer may be a resounding yes.
Regardless, the second half performance from Manning and the Longhorns handed Texas one of its biggest wins of the season for its College Football Playoff picture, a 27-17 win over Texas A&M at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
It’s the third top-15 ranked win of the season for Steve Sarkisian’s squad, and their sixth win in their last seventh games.
Manning was magnificent in the second half for the Longhorns, as he threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Wingo and broke off for a 35-yard rushing score of his own in the half alone. He completed 14 of 29 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown, adding seven rushes for 53 yards and another score.
With its win, Texas has now won back-to-back games against its in-state foe in the last two seasons, and eliminates Texas A&M from contention for the SEC championship game
It also poses the question of whether the Longhorns can sneak into the College Football Playoff. Here’s what to know on what the Longhorns’ win over the Aggies does to their CFP picture:
Texas football rankings: Can Longhorns make CFP after Texas A&M win?
Though it might be a long shot, especially since Texas is knocked out of the SEC championship game, the Longhorns making the CFP is not completely out of consideration.
The reason is for the type of wins that Texas has on its resume, and two of its three losses came in Week 1 against now-top-ranked Ohio State and No. 4 Georgia. Of their nine wins, three of them have come against teams that were ranked in the top 15 of the US LBM Coaches Poll at the time of the contest: No. 6 Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry, No. 11 Vanderbilt in Week 11 and No. 3 Texas A&M.
The only ‘bad’ loss for Texas came on the road against Florida back in September.
The real telling moment of whether Sarkisian’s squad can make the CFP is on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. ET, when the CFP selection committee unveils its fifth CFP top 25 rankings. Texas came in at No. 16 in the fourth CFP rankings and likely will be in the top 12 of this week’s rankings with the win over Texas A&M. Whether that’s enough to avoid being jumped by a conference champion after Week 15 remains to be seen.
The committee did reward Oregon for its top-25 ranked win at home in Week 13 against USC by bumping the Ducks a spot ahead of Ole Miss in this week’s rankings. The Longhorns now have two top-15-ranked wins at home.
Despite all that, history doesn’t side well with Texas as a three-loss team. Using last year’s 12-team CFP bracket and final CFP top 25 rankings, there was just one three-loss team that made the field: Clemson, because it won the ACC championship game. If the Tigers had not beaten SMU in the ACC title game, they would not have made the field.
Most notably, Alabama was left out of the field as a three-loss team last year, though the Crimson Tide’s three losses last season were a bit different than the Longhorns’ losses. Two of Alabama’s losses last season came against unranked opponents in Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, with the latter being the knife in the coffin for Kalen DeBoer’s squad.
Texas football schedule 2025
Here’s a look at Texas’ 2025 schedule, including past scores:
Saturday, Aug. 30: No. 3 Ohio State 14, Texas 7
Saturday, Sept. 6: Texas 38, San Jose State 7
Saturday, Sept. 13: Texas 27, UTEP 10
Saturday, Sept. 20: Texas 55, Sam Houston 0
Saturday, Sept. 27: BYE
Saturday, Oct. 4: Florida 29, Texas 21 *
Saturday, Oct. 11: Texas 23, No. 6 Oklahoma 6 *
Saturday, Oct. 18: Texas 16, Kentucky 13 (OT) *
Saturday, Oct. 25: Texas 45, Mississippi State 38 (OT) *
Saturday, Nov. 1: Texas 34, No. 9 Vanderbilt 31 *
Saturday, Nov. 8: BYE
Saturday, Nov. 15: No. 5 Georgia 35. Texas 10 *
Saturday, Nov. 22: Texas 52, Arkansas 37 *
Friday, Nov. 28: Texas XX, No. 3 Texas A&M XX *
* Denotes SEC game