Why Texas should make the College Football Playoff: Longhorns are being unfairly punished for Ohio State loss

Texas is slotted behind 12 other teams in the most-recent College Football Playoff Rankings, but the No. 13 Longhorns can make an eye-opening claim that no one ahead of them -- or behind them -- can match.

With victories over No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 7 Texas A&M, Texas entered conference championship weekend as the only squad with two wins over teams expected to make the CFP.

Throw in a win over No. 14 Vanderbilt and the Longhorns have three wins over top-15 foes, which gives Texas a trio of victories unmatched by anyone else in the sport. No wonder Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is banging the drum on why the Longhorns deserve to be in the CFP.

He has a point.

Detractors are quick to point out Texas' three losses, including an unseemly road defeat against Florida. But the other two defeats came on the road against top-3 foes Ohio State and Georgia.

Now, let's pretend Texas played Oklahoma State or Boston College in Week 1 instead of the Buckeyes. That would have been bad for college football, but it would have worked out much better for the Longhorns.

In essence, Texas is being punished for scheduling Ohio State and losing a one-possession game on the road against a team that could legitimately win back-to-back national titles. Sarkisian is now questioning the wisdom of scheduling marquee nonconference opponents like the Buckeyes in the future.

Can't you see why?

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Brad Crawford

The Longhorns would have crushed a lesser opponent and would be sitting at 10-2 while sporting a better resume than any other 10-2 team. With a head-to-head win over the No. 8 Sooners (also 10-2), it's possible -- perhaps even likely -- that Texas would be ranked five spots higher right now had it simply taken the easy way out in nonconference play.

In August, CFP leadership announced the introduction of "record strength" to the playoff selection process. The metric, which was lobbied for by the SEC, is supposed to give teams extra credit for beating quality opponents while reducing the penalty associated with losses to quality teams.

Where is the evidence that this criteria is being applied?

Texas has a 3-0 edge on Notre Dame in wins over top-15 teams but is three spots behind the Irish. It has a 3-1 edge on BYU and Miami in the same category but is ranked behind both. The Hurricanes' losses both came against teams outside of this week's CFP Rankings. Yet, there they are, one spot ahead of Texas and obstructing the Longhorns' path to the playoff.

Selection committee chair Hunter Yuracheck pointed back to the Florida loss after the Dec. 2 rankings release as the justification for Texas' poor standing. 

"And really, Florida dominated that game, held Texas to 50 yards rushing, two interceptions," Yurachek said. "So it's not that Texas played Ohio State, it is Texas' loss to Florida that's holding them back now."

Among teams ranked in the top 15, Yurachek pointed out that 16 of their combined 17 losses are against teams that either are ranked or have been ranked this season.

So, are we just pretending that Alabama's loss at Florida State was a "quality" loss because the Seminoles were ranked in Week 1 at the time of the game? Florida crushed Florida State head-to-head last week, which should actually make the Crimson Tide's loss to the Seminoles worse than Texas' loss to the Gators.

But we are losing the plot here. Texas has a more robust list of high-end victories than anyone else in college football and is being punished for playing on the road at Ohio State instead padding its win-loss record with patsies.