Where bowl projections slotted Texas football post-Week 4

Coming out of Week 4, Texas football doesn’t sit in a great spot in terms of the bigger picture in the Big 12 early on in the regular season. Texas fell short to new head coach Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders on the road in the Big 12 opener on Sep. 24, kicking off conference play on the wrong foot.

Now, head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns must find a way to rebound after coming out of the September schedule with a mediocre record of 2-2 (0-1 Big 12). Sark and the Longhorns are facing a difficult road ahead during the October slate, which features matchups against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Rivalry game (Oct. 8), Iowa State Cyclones at home (Oct. 15), and the Oklahoma State Cowboys on the road during Homecoming weekend in Stillwater (Oct. 22).

With the first month of the regular season now in the books, where do the Longhorns sit in terms of the postseason projections?

The post-Week 4 bowl projections from 247Sports don’t have a very kind outlook for Sark and the Longhorns after the upset loss on the road last weekend to Texas Tech.

Brad Crawford of 247Sports projected Texas to land in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl this season against the Maryland Terrapins out of the Big Ten.

247Sports projects Steve Sarkisian and Texas football to face Maryland in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl post-Week 4

This essentially means that Texas would be the second-to-last school selected out of the Big 12 if all the bowl games designated for this conference are filled out. In terms of the bowl pecking order for postseason-eligible teams from the Big 12, only the First Responder Bowl/Armed Forces Bowl is lower on the totem pole than the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

The Guaranteed Rate Bowl is also one of the lower games in the pecking order for the Big Ten’s selection process.

But Maryland could still make for an interesting postseason matchup for the Longhorns, especially given the recent history of this matchup that presented Texas with plenty of issues. Texas faced Maryland to open up the 2017 and 2018 seasons, both of which fell in the Terps’ favor.

Yet, the goal for Texas will obviously be to get a better slotting for the postseason when it’s all said and done for the regular season. Sark and the Longhorns probably need to at least reach seven or eight wins during the regular season to get a better bowl game selection than the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

Texas is currently sporting a record of 2-2 (0-1 Big 12) following the disappointing upset loss on the road in overtime to Texas Tech on Sep. 24. Next up for Sark and the Longhorns is a battle with the West Virginia Mountaineers at DKR in Austin on Oct. 1, with kickoff time set for 6:30 p.m. CT.