Texas Football: ESPN FPI updated to favor Longhorns in all but one game

Post-Week 1, the Texas football program has a really positive outlook for the 2020 season in the latest edition of ESPN’s Football Power Index.

The updated edition of ESPN’s Football Power Index featuring the new projections for the Texas football program this fall dropped after the first full weekend of game action concluded around the country in Week 1. There was some relevancy to Texas in the first full weekend of game action for college football’s 2020 season, as their opening opposition played in their initial contest.

The UTEP Miners are the first opponent up for the Longhorns this fall, as their sole non-conference game during the regular season. UTEP took on the FCS Stephen F. Austin LumberJacks in their season opener on Sep. 5. And the Miners took the victory at home over the weekend over SFA by the final score of 24-14.

That was only the second victory in the last two and a half years combined for the Miners on the gridiron.

Nonetheless, it is important that the Longhorns have some film to watch from this year on their initial opponent of the 2020 season. It can help this new look coaching staff beyond fourth-year head coach Tom Herman get their schemes ready both for the season opener and the start of the Big 12 slate later this month.

But ESPN’s updated FPI projections for the Longhorns this fall are key to follow for any fans of the program. It can realistically show the path for Texas to potential prominence this season, as long as they don’t under-perform expectations in the Big 12.

The FPI now projects Texas as the favorite to win each of their individual regular season games but one, as of the afternoon of Sep. 7. That one game that they still aren’t favored in at this point in time is the annual Red River Rivalry game at the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas against the Oklahoma Sooners. But FPI gives the Sooners the slightest of edges in that game, giving them a 50.1 percent chance to take the victory back to Norman.

In all other games for the Longhorns this fall, they are at least given a 60 percent chance to win. The only game that is relatively close to the 60 percent mark in the FPI too is the road contest against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Oct. 31. Texas is given a 60.3 percent chance to beat the Pokes on the road.

The FPI gives the Longhorns a whopping 99.8 percent chance to take care of business against UTEP next weekend. And Texas has a 79.0 percent chance to beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders on the road in Lubbock in their Big 12 opener on Sep. 26.

Texas opens up the 2020 season next Saturday at 7 p.m. CT under the lights at DKR against UTEP. They are 42-point favorites, as of Sep. 7, heading into that game against UTEP. Texas is a perfect 5-0 in program history against the Miners, with their latest win coming in 2016 over UTEP by the final score of 41-7 under former head coach Charlie Strong.