Welp, there it is Longhorn Nation. Texas football has officially been left out of the College Football Playoffs this season. Though it was a longshot after Friday and Saturday's conference championship games, there was still some semblance of hope that they'd sneak in somehow.
Here is the official College Football Playoff rankings, as announced today:
1. Indiana
2. Ohio State
3. Georgia
4. Texas Tech
5. Oregon
6. Ole Miss
7. Texas A&M
8. Oklahoma
9. Alabama
10. Miami
11. Tulane
12. JMU
BREAKING: The College Football Playoff Bracket is SET🏆
— On3 (@On3sports) December 7, 2025
Who will win it all? 🤔https://t.co/oqde6Tun6B pic.twitter.com/2Ko4DxmWkG
Despite Texas having a much better overall strength of schedule advantage (8th) and more top 10 wins than any other team ahead of them, they just couldn't wedge themselves into the playoffs.
The craziest part of the final rankings is how Alabama was not only able to still snake their way in, but they "miraculously" stayed at No.9 despite getting absolutely destroyed by the Georgia Bulldogs yesterday. In what world does an Alabama team with three losses, one to Florida State, and just lost the night before get into the CFP over Texas or even Notre Dame?
It's somewhat understandable when you take into consideration that Alabama lost to the SEC Champ, so maybe they would stay within one of two spots of where they were initially. Not moving at all whatsoever after the loss is wild, though.
Shortly after ESPN announced the final rankings and bracket, Longhorns fans understandably made their frustrations known on social media:
ESPN says there was only one team on last weeks rankings that had a team ahead of them that they beat. Miami. Texas beat 2 teams ahead in the CFP and 3 in the AP but were not even considered. Bama got smoked by FSU and they said UT is out because of the loss to Florida?
— Wildhorse36 (@Wildhorse361) December 7, 2025
Bro these teams literally got embarrassed last night on national television and were hardly punished for it …… Texas should have been in.
— Devin Gonzalez (@brown_mamba55) December 7, 2025
This is absolutely trash.
— CA ET Nerd (@earlyvotedata) December 7, 2025
I cannot believe Notre Dame was left out and so was Texas.
How does this even happen?
Bring back the BCS at this point to run the playoff.
AI save college football!! https://t.co/mQHwHX59tm
It's obvious that something needs to change when it comes to the CFP team consideration format, and it'll most likely happen when the 16-team format get's introduced. No, it hasn't been officially announced yet or anything that they're going to adopt it, but a lot of smart people believe that it'll happen within the next couple of seasons.
So many deserving teams were left out of the College Football Playoffs this year, and it's imperative for the future of the sport to make sure that more teams have something legitimate to play for every season.