One 47-yard field goal, and the No. 1 team in the country is suddenly not. The college football rankings are about to get a serious shake-up, and Texas is sitting at the center of it.
The Longhorns, No. 1 a week ago, are headed for a big drop after losing to unranked Oklahoma. The new AP and Coaches polls are expected Sunday, and nothing below is official until they land.
Here is what we know. Oklahoma beat Texas 27-24 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Saturday, when kicker Tate Sandell drilled a 47-yard field goal as time expired, according to the AP. It was Texas’ first loss of the season. The Longhorns are now 4-1 overall and 1-1 in SEC play. For the full game story, see our recap of how Oklahoma stunned No. 1 Texas in the Red River Rivalry.
Where Texas Lands in the Week 7 Rankings
Nobody has the final numbers yet, but the projections agree on the big picture. Sports Illustrated’s projected AP poll puts Georgia at No. 1 and Texas at No. 4, with Ohio State right behind at No. 5. CBS Sports also has Georgia first and Texas fourth.
That is a soft landing for a team that just lost to an unranked rival. Texas was No. 1 in the Coaches Poll with 45 first-place votes before the weekend.
It also still owns a win over Ohio State. Both CBS and SI say that victory carries real weight on the resume, and it explains why the college football poll voters are not about to bury the Longhorns.
How Texas Let This One Get Away
The Longhorns led by 10 and still lost. That is a hard sentence to write twice.
The Sooners scored on special teams and on defense, and a blocked punt gave them their first touchdown. Texas also racked up eight penalties for 61 yards, which is a lot of free yardage to hand a rival.
Then came the fourth quarter. Arch Manning threw two interceptions, one of which set up the winning kick. He still finished with 260 passing yards and three touchdowns, but the late mistakes cost his team the game.
Before the game, we had laid out what was at stake for Steve Sarkisian’s Texas team, and those stakes got a lot higher by the final whistle. The voters will weigh every one of those mistakes when they build the new college football rankings.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian did not hide from it. “It’s obviously a level of disappointment, there’s a level of anger and frustration because we know we have issues that need to be fixed,” he said afterward. Asked whether he would hand off play-calling, he answered with two words: “Not a chance.”
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables called it “a classic game of two really good programs in an incredibly intense environment.” All five ESPN College GameDay pickers had gone with Texas that morning, so the Sooners made plenty of confident people look silly.
LSU and Oregon Shake Up the Top 25 Poll
Texas was not the only ranked team to stumble. No. 10 LSU lost 35-34 in overtime at Kentucky and fell to 4-2. SI’s version of the poll projects LSU to slide to No. 21, and CBS says its place in the Top 25 is in question.
Oregon, No. 13 in the AP poll, lost 17-15 at home to unbeaten UCLA. It was the Ducks’ second loss of the year. UCLA is now 5-0, and its jump in the college football rankings is one of the bigger stories of the week.
The rest of the weekend was just as loud. Georgia won 20-17 at Alabama in a game played in a downpour, which you can relive in our story on how Georgia beat Alabama as Hurricane Isaias soaked Tuscaloosa. Florida lost to South Carolina, and Texas A&M fell 27-6 at No. 14 Missouri.
Here’s the Thing: Texas Is Not Dead, but the Road Got Ugly
So is the playoff dream over? Not even close. CBS Sports’ playoff forecaster still gives Texas a 66.8% chance to make the College Football Playoff. The SEC’s move to a nine-game league schedule also means more chances for resume-building wins.
But the path is steep. A Yahoo preview listed five straight ranked opponents after Oklahoma: Florida, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri and LSU. Those rankings came before the season and have changed, so treat them with caution.
Even so, the message is clear. Texas needs to fix the penalties and the late turnovers fast, or the next college football rankings will not be as kind.
The polls come out Sunday, and Texas fans will be watching for one number. The bigger question is whether the Longhorns can look like a No. 1 team again before their schedule gets any harder.
