The 2025 Texas football schedule projects as the fourth-toughest in college football, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index metric.
The Longhorns will play six games against teams ranked in the top 25 of the FPI. Unlike last season, when Texas played two of its three toughest regular-season opponents at home, the Longhorns are facing a gantlet of difficult away games. They open the season at Ohio State and head to Georgia in November, facing off against programs that have won three of the last four national championships.
Those two contests will rank among the most anticipated games in the country this season and, of course, among the most influential contests when evaluating the 2025 Longhorns’ resume.
But what other games will prove vital to Texas’ efforts to return to the College Football Playoff for a third consecutive season?
Texas at Ohio State, Aug. 30
This is the tone setter. The Longhorns open the season against the Ohio State team that ousted them from the 2024 College Football Playoff, opting for a high-stakes launching pad for the Arch Manning era on the road against the defending national champions. According to ESPN’s sportsbook, the Longhorns and Buckeyes have the joint-best odds to win this year’s national title, with an implied probability of 16.7% each. The game exemplifies Texas’ aggressive scheduling policy; athletic director Chris Del Conte said UT wants to play the biggest brands in the sport. The Longhorns, alongside Texas A&M and Florida, are one of just three SEC teams with a road nonconference game scheduled against a top-25 FPI team. There’s an added strain on the Longhorns to win it — every at-large team selected by last season’s CFP committee lost two games or fewer.
Texas at Florida, Oct. 4
Billy Nappier holds a 19-19 record through his first three seasons as Florida’s head coach, placing his job security firmly in question as he enters his fourth season in Gainesville. But even while underperforming at a proud program, Nappier has made a habit of playing up to the competition. Florida has beaten at least one top-10 team in The Swamp every year since his arrival. Now, the Gators look like a more competent bunch. ESPN’s FPI tabs them as the No. 18 team in the country heading into 2025 and sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway should rank among the most electrifying signal-callers in college football. This is absolutely a game the Longhorns can lose.
GOLDEN: Texas program didn’t build over night
Texas vs. Oklahoma, Oct. 11
Texas’ last meeting with the Sooners was over by halftime, with Oklahoma’s offense unable to get out of its own way as the Longhorns overwhelmed freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. The situation in Norman still doesn’t look rosy, but Brent Venables did land the nation’s No. 12 transfer portal class in an attempt to rejuvenate a roster that went 6-7. If Washington State transfer John Mateer can produce similar numbers to the outstanding production he delivered at Wazzu last season, the Sooners should be capable of threatening Texas at the Cotton Bowl this time around.
Texas at Georgia, Nov. 15
Texas lost twice to the Bulldogs in 2024 — once in a withering performance at home with Carson Beck under center for Georgia, then again in the SEC title game with Gunner Stockton leading a strong second-half effort by the Bulldogs. It’ll be Stockton leading the show when Texas travels to Athens for a November game sure to exert plenty of influence at the top of the SEC standings. Coach Kirby Smart’s team is considered the second-favorite to win the league by FPI, trailing only the Longhorns. And there might not be a tougher place to play in college football. The last time Georgia lost a home game was in 2019 when South Carolina beat the Bulldogs 20-17 at Sanford Stadium.
GOLDEN: CFP should encourage early marquee matchups
Texas vs. Texas A&M, Nov. 28
On paper, a home matchup with Texas A&M looks like the least threatening for Texas out of the five games included on this list. The Longhorns enter the 2025 season with the more talented roster by some distance. A successful $100 bet on Texas to win 10 or more regular-season games would pay out $47.62; the same bet on the Aggies would return $340.00. And this rivalry has tended not to subscribe to cliches about passion leveling the playing field; the team to finish with the better season overall has won 10 of the last 12 meetings. But that’s why this game is so important, and potentially influential. What could derail a Texas season more comprehensively than losing to a Texas A&M team that the Longhorns are supposed to beat?
Reach Texas Insider David Eckert via email at david.eckert@hearst.com.
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