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Texas fans should expect to see the Horns climb CFP rankings after win over Missouri

The Longhorns have continued to prove themselves worthy of a spot in the College Football Playoff.
BySam Fariss
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Arch Manning, Texas vs. Missouri
Arch Manning, Texas vs. Missouri | Jay Biggerstaff/GettyImages

After dropping two inexplicable games to unranked opponents, the Texas Longhorns have been on an absolute tear, toppling the No. 7 Ole Miss Rebels, the Mississippi State Bulldogs, and the No. 18 Missouri Tigers.

Now, with four ranked wins to their name, the Horns are continuing to climb back up the national rankings.

Last week, that included Texas earning a spot in the first College Football Playoff bracket of the season as the No. 7 seed.

After beating Missouri in Week 10, the Longhorns should undeniably be able to expect that ranking to rise, especially since they further separated themselves as the team with the most ranked wins in the country.

At the very least, that expectation played out in the AP Top 25 Poll this week. While the AP Poll doesn't carry the same kind of weight nowadays once the CFP rankings begin, it does give a generally good sense of what the national opinion is of each team.

AP Top 25 Poll after Week 10 shows Texas Longhorns continuing to rise

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In the Week 11 AP Top 25 Poll, the Horns rose two spots, moving from No. 10 to No. 8 in the country. While that's still a step back from where Texas sits in the CFP ranking, it is impossible to deny that it also has Texas trending in the right direction: back toward the top.

  1. Georgia Bulldogs (8-1)
  2. Utah Utes (9-0)
  3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-1)
  4. UCLA Bruins (9-0)
  5. Miami Hurricanes (8-1)
  6. Indiana Hoosiers (8-1)
  7. Alabama Crimson Tide (7-2)
  8. Texas Longhorns (7-2)
  9. Tennessee Volunteers (7-2)
  10. Texas Tech Red Raiders (8-1)
  11. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-1)
  12. BYU Cougars (8-2)
  13. Kentucky Wildcats (7-2)
  14. Houston Cougars (7-2)
  15. USC Trojans (7-2)
  16. Iowa Hawkeyes (7-2)
  17. Boise State Broncos (8-1)
  18. Oregon Ducks (6-3)
  19. Ole Miss Rebels (6-3)
  20. South Carolina Gamecocks (6-3)
  21. Ohio State Buckeyes (6-3)
  22. Arizona Wildcats (7-2)
  23. New Mexico Lobos (8-1)
  24. LSU Tigers (6-3)
  25. SMU Mustangs (7-2)

Of course, the Horns claimed their other top-25 wins over the Tennessee Volunteers (who are now No. 9), Ole Miss (who have fallen to No. 19), and the then-No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes (who have dropped all the way to No. 21).

Texas's win on Saturday dropped Missouri out of the top 25. The LSU Tigers lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide in Week 10 and are clinging to a top-25 ranking, with the Horns heading to Baton Rouge next weekend.

With one more ranked win on the season (bringing the total to five), it would become even more difficult for someone to have a substantial argument to keep the Longhorns out of the College Football Playoff this year... barring any more unranked upsets in the last two games of the season.

The second CFP ranking will be revealed on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m. CT, and will be broadcast on ESPN.

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