Texas Football: Longhorns just outside top 10 in latest ESPN FPI

We are now less than one week away from the start of the regular season slate for the Texas football program and new head coach Steve Sarkisian. And the hype is starting to build for how Sark and his squad will do in a tough start to the non-conference schedule this fall. Texas opens up the regular season slate at home at DKR on Sep. 4 against the No. 23 ranked Louisiana Ragin-Cajuns.

Sark and the Longhorns don’t see the non-conference slate lighten up a whole lot the following weekend. Texas will travel to Fayetteville to face the Arkansas Razorbacks in a primetime slot at 6 p.m. CT on Sep. 11. That won’t be an easy win for the Longhorns either following a season-opening matchup against one of the best Group of Five programs in the country.

But the ESPN Football Power Index seems to have confidence that Sark will lead the Longhorns in a pretty prominent direction in his first season as head coach. The most updated version of the ESPN FPI has Texas at No. 11, which is roughly 10 spots higher than both major preseason polls slotted this team.

Recent ESPN FPI update has a bright outlook for Steve Sarkisian and Texas football in 2021

There were two Big 12 teams ranked ahead of the Longhorns in the most recent version of the ESPN FPI. The Iowa State Cyclones rang in at No. 9 and the Oklahoma Sooners are at No. 3. Meanwhile, Texas is settled one spot above the Oregon Ducks and one spot below the Florida Gators.

The FPI also projects Texas to finish up with a record of 8.7-3.6. Including bowl season, a 9-4 record wouldn’t be the worst way for Sark to finish out his first season as the Longhorns head coach.

Texas was also given roughly a 10 percent chance to win the Big 12 this fall, a six percent chance to make the College Football Playoff, and a 0.5 percent chance to win the National Championship.

One major surprise from this version of the FPI was how low it slotted Louisiana. The Ragin-Cajuns ranked outside of the top 50 in the FBS, although the team was projected to finish with nine wins.

According to the ESPN matchup predictor (based on the FPI metrics), Texas has more than an 87 percent chance to beat Louisiana in the regular season opener next weekend. That is a pretty large margin of the percentage chance that the ESPN FPI gives Sark and the Longhorns to beat a solid Louisiana team in Week 1.

Texas looks ready for the season opener that is now six days away. The Longhorns look to have a starting quarterback in store for the meeting with Louisiana in Austin next weekend in sophomore Hudson Card. Kickoff time for the Texas-Louisiana matchup on Sep. 4 at DKR is set for 3:30 p.m. CT, televised on Fox.