After a dominating showing in the Red River Showdown vs. Oklahoma, it’s time to officially consider Texas as a College Football Playoff contender.
The Texas Longhorns picked up their biggest win in years with a 48-45 win over the rival Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Showdown. Quarterback Sam Ehlinger accounted for five touchdowns to outduel Kyler Murray in a game that went down to the final seconds after Texas allowed a 21-point fourth-quarter lead to disappear. Kicker Cameron Dicker drilled the game-winning 40-yard field goal in the closing seconds, and the celebration was on for Tom Herman’s team who is officially back.
Texas still has an important second half of their season that includes a road date at Oklahoma State followed up by hosting West Virginia that will ultimately determine if Texas will make the Big 12 Championship Game. After winning five straight since losing the season opener to Maryland, this team is playing with so much confidence that’s only going to reach new heights after beating Oklahoma.
Should Texas get through that two-game stretch at the end of October and the first weekend in November, it’ll be much clearer to identify them as a College Football Playoff contender or pretender.
However, on Oct. 6, I’m going to throw them in the contender category. And “contender” doesn’t mean the favorite or a guarantee that they’ll make it, but Texas fans have to love what they’re seeing from their team and the rest of the Big 12 is surely taking notice of the improved play, especially along the offensive line.
Texas will likely move into the Top 10 in the next AP Top 25 and has to avoid a letdown next week against Baylor, and while they have teams like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson, West Virginia and Washington in front of them, Texas is squarely in a position to get one of the four Playoff spots if they win out.
That’s something that not even Matthew McConaughey or Roger Clemens or any other optimistic Longhorns fan would have envisioned this year. But here we are halfway through the season and Texas is riding a five-game win streak after rolling up 48 on Oklahoma.
It could be that this sleeping giant has downed a couple of 5-hour energy’s and is wide awake and ready to rejoin their place at the table of the college football elite.