Texas ranks unbelievably high in latest ESPN FPI update
After posting one of the most disappointing seasons in recent memory in 2021, the Texas football program and head coach Steve Sarkisian have a lot of work to do in the 2022 offseason. Texas has done good work so far to start righting the ship early in the offseason on the Forty Acres, but there’s obviously still a long way to go.
Sark and the Longhorns will need to continue to do good work on the recruiting trail with the 2022 and 2023 classes and in scouting the right talent out of the NCAA Transfer Portal. The goal in 2022 will likely be to at least improve the regular season record by two or three wins.
Considering the fact that the Longhorns finished up the 2021 regular season with a record of 5-7 (3-6 Big 12), there’s clearly a long way to go. But the most recent update to the ESPN Football Power Index looks to hold the Longhorns in about as high of a regard as any team that posted a losing record during the regular season that was.
The latest edition of ESPN’s FPI ranks the Longhorns as the No. 26 team in the FBS behind the Tennessee Volunteers. This places the Longhorns as the highest-ranked five-win team in the FBS and the second-best overall with a losing record.
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The only team that ranked ahead of the Longhorns that posted a losing record this season is the Auburn Tigers, who still made it to a bowl game with six wins.
Yet, there is a clear pattern here that the FPI algorithm values the scoring margin more so than the actual win-loss record. That is apparent in the fact that the three-win Nebraska Cornhuskers also cracked the top 30 in the latest edition of the FPI.
It also slotted ranked teams like the Houston Cougars, BYU Cougars, and Kentucky Wildcats below Texas.
Close losses for the Longhorns to teams like the Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys, and Baylor Bears, were clearly valued to a large degree by the FPI. And the fact that the Longhorns handed the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns their only loss of the season is also valued in a notable way.
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Texas rounded out the regular season by topping the Kansas State Wildcats in a home finale back on Black Friday. The Longhorns still missed the postseason for the first time since 2016 by posting a losing record during the regular season.