Where Texas football ranks in the post-Week 1 ESPN FPI

The season got off to a pretty good start for head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program this weekend against head coach Terry Bowden and the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks out of the Sun Belt. Texas covered the spread in this game, downing ULM by the final score of 52-10 at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Sep. 3.

Sark and the Longhorns controlled this matchup against ULM through and through en route to this solid 42-point win. Texas saw the defense show some improvement, albeit in a game where we might not learn too much about this team. But we also saw some positive strides from the offense, especially from redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers as the game moved along.

So, where do Sark and the Longhorns stack up after this commanding win in the regular season opener over ULM?

According to the ESPN Football Power Index, Texas holds steady at No. 7 after most of the action for Week 1 of the college football season is in the books. There are still a couple of games remaining for the holiday weekend.

Post-Week 1 ESPN FPI slots Steve Sarkisian and Texas football at No. 7

On the night of Sep. 4, new head coach Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers will take on the Florida State Seminoles. We’ll also see the No. 4 Clemson Tigers take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in each team’s ACC opener on Labor Day, Sep. 5.

Moreover, while Texas held steady in the same spot in the updated version of the ESPN FPI, there were some improvements for this team in a few different metrics. The updated FPI now gives Texas better than a 98 percent chance to win six games and a 32.6 percent chance to win the Big 12.

It’s also notable that the most recent FPI gives Texas an 11.3 percent chance to make the College Football Playoff and a 3.3 percent chance to win the National Championship.

Those percentages give a pretty optimistic outlook for the rest of the 2022 season. I would say these percentages paint a picture that is way too optimistic for this fall given how we still have a lot to learn about this team.

We will learn more about Sark and this squad when Texas takes the field at DKR next weekend to face the No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide at home at DKR. Texas will kick off against Alabama at DKR at 11 a.m. CT on Sep. 10.