Texas Football: ESPN FPI favors Longhorns early over No. 6 OK State
A big win for Texas football and head coach Tom Herman over the Baylor Bears this weekend will hopefully signal progress heading into Oklahoma State week.
Somehow the ESPN Football Power Index is giving a lot of early favor to the Texas football program and fourth-year head coach Tom Herman to take care of business against the undefeated and No. 6 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys in a key Halloween showdown on Oct. 31. Texas is set to travel to Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater to take on longtime head coach Mike Gundy and his Pokes.
A win for Herman and the Longhorns, and the Big 12 would really fall into chaos starting next weekend. Oklahoma State is about the best hope remaining for the Big 12 to make the College Football Playoff at this point.
With Texas and the Oklahoma Sooners each holding two losses still about at the midway point of the Big 12 schedule, this conference doesn’t have a whole lot of promising College Football Playoff contenders at the moment.
Margin by which ESPN’s FPI favors Texas football over OK State
However, the ESPN FPI is still giving the Longhorns a slight 51.4 percent chance to upset Oklahoma State on the road next weekend. The FPI has favored the Longhorns in every single game they’ve played in this season so far.
Texas will come into that game with a record of 3-2 (2-2 Big 12), coming off their Oct. 24 potentially momentum-shifting win over the Baylor Bears by the final score of 27-16. This was the first double-digit win over a Big 12 foe this season for Texas.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma State is set to come into this game with a record of 4-0 (3-0 Big 12) after they took down the No. 17 ranked Iowa State Cyclones in Stillwater on Oct. 24 by the narrow final score of 24-21. With the win over Iowa State, Oklahoma State has for the time being established themselves as the clear top team in the Big 12 at this point of the season.
Last year, Texas broke their losing streak to Gundy and the Pokes with a big 36-30 home win. That win over an eight-win Oklahoma State team last season was maybe their biggest triumph in the Big 12 slate.
Next. 3 takeaways from convincing win over Baylor. dark
Texas holds the all-time series edge over Oklahoma State in 34 meetings, with a record of 25-9-0. Next weekend’s matchup between Oklahoma State and Texas is set to kick-off at 3 p.m. CT, televised nationally on Fox.