CBS: College football playoff contenders by tier: Texas not in "Clear frontrunners"

[Gerry Hamilton]

CBS' reason ... the one we've all been talking about since the release: the schedule  

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-playoff-contenders-tier-2026/

[JMarquette]

More and more I’m convinced that Sankey got played by having the SEC go to a 9-game slate. 

[harveycmd]

Next time Notre Dame wins a Title I'll give @Gerry Hamilton everything I own.

[Gerry Hamilton]

51 minutes ago, harveycmd said:

Next time Notre Dame wins a Title I'll give @Gerry Hamilton everything I own.

lol … that’s a lot of Kobe pictures, jerseys and DVD’s 

[harveycmd]

9 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said:

lol … that’s a lot of Kobe pictures, jerseys and DVD’s 

That's true. This be like Kobe talking to LeBron in actual battle. 

 

[hookem1014]

1 hour ago, JMarquette said:

More and more I’m convinced that Sankey got played by having the SEC go to a 9-game slate. 

With how tough the schedule is, I think a 3 loss Texas makes the CFP as long as none of those losses are to terrible teams. Very doable if this team is as good as expected. If they lose 4 games they don’t deserve it regardless of the schedule. 

[AusMOJO]

1 hour ago, JMarquette said:

More and more I’m convinced that Sankey got played by having the SEC go to a 9-game slate. 

Yeah I'm not sure why they went that route but what can you do? All I know is all the playoff SEC teams are going to beat each other up before even getting there lol. 

[harveycmd]

Gerry, why do you love Freeman and Notre Dame so much? Is it because had lunch with goober in Florida? I mean, talked with Cormac McCarthy in San Marcos in 2009. 

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:37 PM by harveycmd

[harveycmd]

@Gerry Hamilton Because you mentioned Kobe Jerseys to me after my previous post, I'll never watch another OTF video in my life.

[Gerry Hamilton]

4 hours ago, harveycmd said:

Gerry, why do you love Freeman and Notre Dame so much? Is it because had lunch with goober in Florida? I mean, talked with Cormac McCarthy in San Marcos in 2009. 

 

I believe he’s a terrific young coach. Think hes built for college football, if he stays in it long enough. Does that mean guaranteed NC’s? Of course not. Some terrific coaches didn’t win an NC in the history of the sport, while a lot lesser coaches did. 

[GoHorns1]

4 hours ago, harveycmd said:

Gerry, why do you love Freeman and Notre Dame so much? Is it because had lunch with goober in Florida? I mean, talked with Cormac McCarthy in San Marcos in 2009. 

 

If Sark were leave Texas, Freeman would be the top 3 of CDC list for the next HC!

[harveycmd]

31 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said:

I believe he’s a terrific young coach. Think hes built for college football, if he stays in it long enough. Does that mean guaranteed NC’s? Of course not. Some terrific coaches didn’t win an NC in the history of the sport, while a lot lesser coaches did. 

Jerry West's 1996 draft-day acquisition of Kobe Bryant—drafted 13th by Charlotte and traded to the Lakers for Vlade Divac—is widely considered the greatest draft move in NBA history. It secured a 20-year Hall of Fame career, five championships, and cleared cap space to sign Shaquille O'Neal.

[GoHorns1]

28 minutes ago, harveycmd said:

Jerry West's 1996 draft-day acquisition of Kobe Bryant—drafted 13th by Charlotte and traded to the Lakers for Vlade Divac—is widely considered the greatest draft move in NBA history. It secured a 20-year Hall of Fame career, five championships, and cleared cap space to sign Shaquille O'Neal.

WTF does this BS have to do the thread subject?

[THookem]

 

[Jerky]

CBS gave a valid singular reason to exclude us from their top tier, our tough schedule.

Non-conference #2 seed Ohio St loss was part of a 3 loss season. Had we lost 2 games instead of 3, Texas would have been a lock for the CFP.

I again see highly ranked Ohio St on our schedule plus 9 SEC games. In 2026, Texas is playing 4 teams that made the 2025 CFP (seeds 2, 6, 7, 8). In addition to 4 CFP teams, Texas plays an a pesky MSST that took us to overtime, Florida that beat us, at MO, at TN and at LSU. 

I personally believe a 9-3 record against our really tough schedule could very well mean we are CFP worthy.  But I don't want to be on the bubble needing a CFP vote.

Texas must set the CFP bar at 10-2 or better and you are in. Anything worse could prevent a CFP appearance. 

[Sirhornsalot]

We'll beat Ohio State.

 

[LonghornFan4Ever]

4 hours ago, THookem said:

 

Bill McCartney’s not walking through that door.

[AusMOJO]

8 hours ago, THookem said:

 

I know he has to hype his guys up but that's a weird shot to take at Texas lol. 

[Junior]

Would be a shame for Texas to lose out on first championship and heisman in years because of scheduling disparities in college football and a selection committee that seems to be incapable of properly evaluating strength of schedule vs win/loss record. And a media complex that doesn’t hold them accountable to follow their own selection criteria 

[Bunk Moreland]

On 7/14/2026 at 12:08 PM, GoHorns1 said:

WTF does this BS have to do the thread subject?

You must remember that Harvey isn’t quite here with the rest of us.

[Roysterr]

On 7/14/2026 at 2:53 PM, Sirhornsalot said:

We'll beat Ohio State.

 

We have to

[cochamps]

Re; our schedule - We play a lot of tough teams, but there are seven home games, the neutral site vs blow u and four road games.  We should be manage a 10-2 record or better to get to the playoff.  But for a team with a wuss schedule like tech the bar should be at least 11-1.  Wonder how sorsby would bet on that?

[Here for the Wins]

6 minutes ago, cochamps said:

Re; our schedule - We play a lot of tough teams, but there are seven home games, the neutral site vs blow u and four road games.  We should be manage a 10-2 record or better to get to the playoff.  But for a team with a wuss schedule like tech the bar should be at least 11-1.  Wonder how sorsby would bet on that?

The distribution of home versus road/neutral is far more favorable than last year.  There’s a good chance there’s a UF on this years schedule - high hopes, decent talent, that somewhat falls apart.

We effectively played 3 road games that our opponent had an off week to prepare for us.  The OU played one of the worst teams in the country leading up to our game.

We are a deeper team.  A more mature team.

There is quite a bit of talk about the offense.  But what’s not mentioned much in that regard is that returning home likely was very impactful.  Sark called games better.  The 4th quarter versus MSU was the start.  Sark also entered the season with roster preservation in mind.  That also impacted the offense.  The first five games his gameplan was too volatile.  Run oriented versus UTEP, somewhat run oriented versus OSU early, then deep ball oriented versus UF and cautious versus OU so our rhythm was disjointed which was made worse with the offensive turnover from the prior year.

It is all looking to point in the right direction this year.