Texas Football: 5 reasons why the Longhorns can dominate OK State

Texas has a point to prove to the College Football Playoff selection committee

Texas needs a win over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship Game this weekend to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive. The Longhorns also need losses from either the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines against the No. 17 Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Championship Game or the No. 4 Florida State Seminoles against the No. 14 Louisville Cardinals in the ACC Championship Game.

Texas ranks No. 7 in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings, somehow behind the No. 5 Oregon Ducks and No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes. Despite Oregon having a much worse strength of schedule and a lower-ranked strength of record than Texas, the Ducks still rank two spots ahead of them with the same overall record.

And while Ohio State does have comparable strengths of schedule and strengths of record to the Longhorns, the fact that the Buckeyes are out of the running for the Big Ten Championship means it probably won’t be in the Playoff.

The incongruencies from the selection committee between their so-called ranking criteria and how they’ve actually ranked the top teams this fall mean the Longhorns probably need to win the Big 12 title and get help elsewhere to make it in the four-team Playoff field.

One way the Longhorns can ensure they have the best chance of being one of the four teams picked for the Playoff is to blow the doors off of Oklahoma State. After Texas beat Texas Tech by 50 points at home last week, another big-time win over a quality Power Five foe in a conference championship game could help convince the selection committee the Longhorns are worthy of the Playoff.