Three of the seven wins earned by the Texas football team heading into a date with Florida at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday (11 a.m., ABC) came against teams who were ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 at the time of the game.
Unfortunately, then-No. 10 Michigan and then-No. 18 Oklahoma are closer to being ineligible for a bowl berth than being in anybody’s top 25. Vanderbilt was No. 25 when the Longhorns traveled to FirstBank Stadium in Nashville (Tenn.) on Oct. 26, returning home victorious after hanging on for a 27-24 win.
The Commodores are back in the top 25, ranked No. 24 after clinching bowl eligibility with a 17-7 road win over Auburn last Saturday. Still, coach Clark Lea‘s club didn’t make Tuesday’s release of the initial College Football Playoff selection committee rankings.
So why did the committee align with the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll by putting Texas (7-1, 3-1 SEC) at No. 5 in their debut rankings for 2024?
“I think Texas has looked good all year in terms of how they have played,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, who is the chair of the selection committee. “They have won on the road at Michigan and went to Vanderbilt and won. As we’ve seen, Vanderbilt is a very good team this year.”
Manuel watched from one of the best seats in the house when the Longhorns manhandled the Wolverines at the Big House in Ann Arbor on Sept. 7. While breaking down how the committee evaluated the Longhorns during a media teleconference after the rankings were released on Tuesday, Manuel pointed out that the only loss Texas has on its ledger is the 30-15 setback it suffered at the hands of No. 3 Georgia on Oct. 19.
The loss to the Bulldogs can be looked at in one of two ways.
On one hand, the Longhorns got off to a horrible start and dug themselves into a 23-0 hole. Georgia controlled the game from start to finish.
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