Where Texas football ranks in the post-Week 10 ESPN FPI

In Week 10, we saw head coach Steve Sarkisian and No. 24 ranked Texas football come up with a huge performance to finally get a win on the road over a ranked Big 12 foe. Texas was able to snap a five-game road losing streak dating back to last season by topping the No. 13 ranked Kansas State Wildcats and head coach Chris Klieman at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan on Nov. 5.

Not only did we see the Longhorns finally get the road monkey off its back, but we also saw the defense come up big to help this team keep a double-digit second-half lead alive.

Texas played this one very close to the vest, seeing a commanding 31-10 halftime lead shrink to just a seven-point lead as of late in the fourth quarter. In fact, Kansas State was one drive away from tying this one late.

Steve Sarkisian and Texas football finally get a win on the road over a ranked foe

Texas was saved by a fumble that was forced by senior nose tackle Keondre Coburn and recovered by junior linebacker Jaylan Ford. The forced fumble on senior Kansas State quarterback Adrian Martinez was what the Longhorns needed to put this win on ice.

Texas was having a hard time recovering fumbles, to say the very least, throughout the nice against Kansas State. A trio of forced fumbles in this game wound up landing with the Wildcats. But Texas got the break it needed when Ford fell on the ball with less than one minute remaining in the fourth quarter.

That was the play that delivered the 34-27 win for the Longhorns in Manhattan.

The win over Kansas State moves Sark and the Longhorns to a mark of 6-3 (4-2 Big 12) on the season. Texas is now bowl eligible for the first time since 2020 and is well and alive in the race to get a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game with three games remaining on the regular season docket.

Next up for Sark and the Longhorns is a crucial matchup at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin against the undefeated TCU Horned Frogs on Nov. 12. Texas will get a chance to make another statement to the entire college football landscape that this team is very formidable down the stretch this season if it can get a win over TCU next weekend.

So, where do Sark and the Longhorns stand in the national scene coming out of the big win over Kansas State?

According to the ESPN Football Power Index, Texas ranks sixth in the country following the Week 10 win over the Wildcats in Manhattan. Texas holds steady in the top 10 in the updated ESPN FPI after it also ranked sixth coming out of the bye week last weekend.

Moreover, the FPI ranks Texas as the top team in the Big 12, eight spots ahead of the No. 14 Horned Frogs.

The updated FPI gives the Longhorns a 26.9 percent chance to win out and a whopping 41.6 percent chance to win the Big 12. But that’s not too surprising given how high the FPI was on Texas throughout the season.

Last but not least, the FPI projects Texas to finish up the season essentially with a record of 9-4. If you asked most Texas fans if they would be happy with a 9-4 finish this season coming out of the Oct. 22 loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, most would give a resounding yes.

But expectations will change if Texas is able to pull off the win over TCU next weekend.

Texas has three very important games remaining on the regular season schedule, two of which come at home at DKR (TCU on Nov. 12 and the Baylor Bears on Nov. 25). That leaves the Kansas Jayhawks as the lone road game remaining on the regular season schedule.