Texas Football: ESPN projects Texas Bowl appearance vs. LSU

Texas football is now getting projected fairly often in the postseason to the Texas Bowl, which would probably slot them against a team from the SEC.

In their latest edition of bowl projections from ESPN concerning the Texas football program, they actually had them in two different slots heading out of the weekend. In one of the two bowl projections for Texas this week, they were slotted to play in the Cheez-It Bowl against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The other projection for ESPN to the Cheez-It Bowl had the slipping Oklahoma State Cowboys facing UNC and former Texas head coach Mack Brown.

But the other bowl projection for the Longhorns this week that was a lot more interesting sees them take on the defending National Champion LSU Tigers in the Texas Bowl.

Ironically the other projection for the Texas Bowl this week has longtime head coach Mike Gundy and his Oklahoma State squad taking on first-year head coach Sam Pittman and the upstart Arkansas Razorbacks. Texas-LSU would definitely be a much more high-profile Texas Bowl matchup than Oklahoma State-Arkansas.

It also sounds better for the Longhorns to face the defending National Champions in an off-year in the postseason than making it to the Cheez-It Bowl. Granted both the Texas Bowl and Cheez-It Bowl are not ideal landing spots for the Longhorns and fourth-year head coach Tom Herman.

Last year, Texas faced the Utah Utes in the Alamo Bowl. But they reached the Alamo Bowl by only winning seven games during the 2019 regular season. They might win seven games this season again, just with two less games played throughout the regular season.

There’s still so much up in the air for the Longhorns with three games remaining for the 2020 regular season. Coming out of their de facto double bye week, the Longhorns are set to face the Iowa State Cyclones at home on Black Friday on Nov. 27.

Iowa State is the most difficult matchup remaining for the regular season. And they also have the Kansas schools remaining before the regular season is officially over for Texas. The Longhorns were supposed to face the Kansas Jayhawks on Nov. 21 on the road in Lawrence, but it had to be delayed to Dec. 12 in the wake of novel coronavirus-related issues.

Moreover, Texas holds the No. 20 slot in this week’s AP Poll, and No. 21 in the Coaches Poll. They sit on a record of 5-2 (4-2 Big 12) heading into the Iowa State game this Friday.

The last game that the Longhorns played in resulted in a 17-13 home win back on Nov. 7 over the West Virginia Mountaineers. They now sit on a three-game winning streak that began back on Oct. 24, against the Baylor Bears at home.