Who UT fans should cheer for and against to help Longhorns reach College Football Playoff
The final year of the four-team College Football Playoff could present something we've never seen: four undefeated Power 5 conference champions.
If that happens, which would mean Georgia, Michigan, Washington, and Florida State win their respective conference title games to improve to 13-0, the Texas Longhorns will be left out of the CFP regardless of Saturday's result in the Big 12 Championship.
However, if the Longhorns defeat Oklahoma State to win their first Big 12 title since 2009, there's a path to the College Football Playoff for what would be a 12-1 Texas team.
According to ESPN's Allstate Playoff Predictor, if undefeated Georgia knocks off Alabama to win the SEC Championship, unbeaten Michigan beats Iowa to win the Big Ten Championship, undefeated Washington gets by Oregon to win the Pac-12 Championship, and Louisville upsets a Florida State team being led by a backup quarterback, then Texas has an 86% chance of reaching the College Football Playoff.
The field for the playoff will be announced Sunday. Houston's NRG Stadium will host the CFP National Championship on Jan. 8.
READ MORE: Here's a taste of what's to come when Houston hosts CFP National Championship in January
The penultimate CFP rankings were released on Tuesday. Georgia remained No. 1.
Michigan moved up a spot to second after beating Ohio State.
Unbeaten Washington was third, followed by unbeaten Florida State. Oregon remained fifth, Ohio State slipped to No. 6, Texas was seventh, and Alabama was eighth.
Texas is 11-1 on the season, with its lone loss of the season coming by four points to No. 12 Oklahoma on a neutral field in Dallas.
A couple of things to remember entering championship weekend: the SEC champion has never been left out of the playoff, a 12-1 Power 5 conference champion with its lone loss coming to a ranked team has never been left out of the playoff, and no two-loss team has ever reached the playoff.
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