It’s been three weeks since Texas’ unbeaten run to start the season was halted by the Georgia Bulldogs. At the time, the Longhorns were No. 1 and the toast of college football. College GameDay was in town and UT fans were riding high.
But the thorough 30-15 beating the Bulldogs put on Texas shook the team and fans alike. The Horns didn’t look like the best team in college football anymore. Then Texas struggled to shake off Vanderbilt, ultimately prevailing 27-24. The worry grew.
Last week was a well-timed bye week for UT. The week off should have given Texas coach Steve Sarkisian some time to fix problems and bolster his team’s lagging confidence.
While it has seemed a bit gloomy, nationally Texas is still thought of as one of the main contenders for the trophies. The college football playoff committee ranked Texas No. 5 in the first ranking of the season.
ESPN’s advanced analytics also believe in Texas. According to ESPN, SP+ rankings are “intended to be predictive and forward-facing. It is not a résumé ranking (hence the lack of unbeatens near the top), so it does not automatically give credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling — no good predictive system does. It is simply a measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. If you’re lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating will probably fall. If you’re strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise.”
In these rankings, the Longhorns are ranked No. 2 in the country, just behind Ohio State. Texas was No. 1 last week, but slipped to second during the bye.
In the SEC, the SP+ rankings have Texas as a 30.8% favorite to win the conference title. Georgia is in No. 2 with a 25.4% chance to win.
“Texas still holds a slight overall edge despite a head-to-head loss to Georgia, mainly because the Longhorns are more likely to reach the SEC championship game in the first place: They do play A&M (13th in SP+) over Thanksgiving, but Georgia still has to play both Ole Miss (fourth) and Tennessee (10th).” — ESPN writer Bill Connelly
Post-Week 10 SP+ Rankings
|
Team |
Rating |
Offense |
Defense |
Spec Tms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1. Ohio St. (7-1) |
29.0 |
38.4 (8) |
9.7 (1) |
0.3 (25) |
|
2. Texas (7-1) |
28.7 |
40.9 (7) |
12.0 (4) |
-0.3 (108) |
|
3. Georgia (7-1) |
28.5 |
41.1 (6) |
13.0 (6) |
0.4 (3) |
|
4. Ole Miss (7-2) |
28.3 |
41.2 (5) |
13.3 (7) |
0.4 (2) |
|
5. Oregon (9-0) |
27.8 |
43.7 (2) |
16.2 (12) |
0.3 (26) |
|
6. Alabama (6-2) |
27.2 |
42.7 (3) |
15.7 (10) |
0.2 (46) |
|
7. Miami (9-0) |
23.5 |
44.7 (1) |
21.5 (31) |
0.4 (15) |
|
8. Notre Dame (7-1) |
23.3 |
36.5 (13) |
13.4 (8) |
0.1 (51) |
|
9. Penn St. (7-1) |
23.2 |
35.1 (16) |
11.8 (2) |
0.0 (75) |
|
10. Tennessee (7-1) |
22.9 |
34.9 (18) |
11.9 (3) |
-0.1 (85) |
This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Texas Longhorns are SEC favorite according to ESPN SP+ ranking
