Texas Longhorns Open as Favorites In College Football Playoff Semi-Final vs. Washington Huskies
On Saturday, the No. 7 Texas Longhorns went into Arlington and made the biggest statement possible in the Big 12 Championship against Oklahoma State.
After being viewed as one of the teams on the outside looking in of the College Football Playoff, Texas ended up blowing the Cowboys out by a score of 49-21. The victory not only gave them their first Big 12 title since 2009 in what is their final year in the conference, but it also solidified their spot in the College Football Playoff.
On Sunday, the Longhorns were revealed to be the No. 3 seed and will be taking on the No. 2 seed Washington Huskies in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Washington got the best of Texas in last year's Alamo Bowl, but while the Huskies won that game, have an explosive offense this year, and are the higher seed, it is actually the Longhorns who are favored by four points according to ESPN.
Quinn Ewers throws a pass against Washington in the Alamo Bowl
Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports
On top of being four-point favorites, ESPN's matchup predictor also gives the Longhorns a 68.4 percent chance of winning. Despite being the lower seed, the Longhorns may actually have a bit more of a home-field advantage being that the game is being played in New Orleans.
There are quite a few storylines to look out for in this game for Texas fans, as Texas' head coach Steve Sarkisian coached at Washington before taking the USC job. The two teams are also viewed as having a couple of the best wide-receiver groups in the country, and it'll surely be elite-on-elite in terms of play callers as Kalen DeBoer is also one of the best offensive minds in college football.
