Texas Longhorns Loss to Oklahoma Sooners Does Not End Big 12 Championship, Playoff Hopes
DALLAS, TX - The No. 3 Texas Longhorns lost a heartbreaker in Dallas to the No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners in the final Big 12 edition of the Red River Showdown on Saturday.
Mistakes, missed opportunities, and lapses on defense paved the way for the last-second 34-30 loss.
It will certainly be a loss that will sting coach Steve Sarkisian and his players for the remainder of the regular season.
“We didn’t play our best football today," Sarkisian said after the game. "We turned the ball over three times. We didn’t create any turnovers. We had nine penalties, which is very uncharacteristic for us. 1-of-3 in the red area.”
That said, it is far from the end of the road for the Horns, and they will still control their own destiny toward a Big 12 Championship game berth, and perhaps even a College Football Playoff spot.
How? The answer is simple - win.
Setting aside the fact that one loss teams make the Playoff every season - including four of the last 10 national champions - Texas' already existing resume is still one of the best in the country.
Not to mention, the typically dominant SEC looks vulnerable. Meanwhile, the Pac-12, despite having three top-10 teams, looks primed to cannibalize itself.
Quinn Ewers is sacked by the Oklahoma Sooners
© Jerome Miron, USA TODAY
The Big 10, on the other hand, looks like the best candidate to have more than one team in the final Playoff rankings, with Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State all in good position in the top 10 as we write this.
All of that, however, is neither here nor there in Week 6.
If the Longhorns are able to take care of the remainder of their schedule - which includes matchups against six unranked opponents in Houston, BYU, Kansas State, TCU, Iowa State, and Texas Tech - they will find themselves in the Big 12 Title Game.
The Longhorns are going to be favored in each of those remaining six games. Perhaps, even in the Big 12 Championship Game itself - presumably against this same Oklahoma Sooners team.
And if they win that game, there is no reason to believe the Longhorns won't find themselves in the thick of the CFP conversation.
“I expect us to get back on the horse," Sarkisian said. We’ve got a locker room full of competitors. This is a tight-knit group. I’m super proud of them for what they bring every single day... I think this locker room is full of champions and our goal is to go win a championship this year. We’ve got to go handle our business.”
But that is a conversation for another day. There is still plenty of football to be played across the country.
And at the end of the day, the four most deserving teams will be the teams left standing in the Playoff.
For now, Texas will head into the bye week, where it will return to the drawing board and prepare for a tricky road game in Houston on Oct. 21.
