The college football season is moving fast. Teams are lining up for their fourth game this weekend, and for the first time since 2023 there will be six AP-ranked matchups on the same day. The headliners include Texas (No. 1) vs. Tennessee (No. 14), Ole Miss (No. 4) vs. Florida (No. 21), and Iowa (No. 17) vs. Michigan (No. 18), with three of those six earning their first loss of the season.
For the Texas Longhorns, still the best team in the country at 3-0, Saturday in Knoxville is the first road game of the year and the start of a brutal stretch. Seven of their last nine games are against teams currently in the Top 25, including Ole Miss (No. 4) and LSU (No. 10).
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Texas is off to a strong start, and ESPN’s playoff model now gives the Longhorns the best shot in the country at reaching the College Football Playoff at 85% after they missed the field last year. Notre Dame sits next at 81% and Miami at 78%.
Those two, like Texas with Arch Manning, have first-round caliber quarterbacks in CJ Carr and Darian Mensah who can win games and could hear their names called early in the next NFL Draft.
Even with the remaining schedule, it is hard to picture Texas staying home in December. Manning has thrown for 664 yards and seven touchdowns through three games.
If the Longhorns finish in the top four, the group that gets a first-round bye, and beat most of these ranked opponents, Manning will be a real Heisman candidate and a top prospect for the 2027 NFL Draft.
After this weekend they get a bye, then the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma, then five games against currently ranked teams: Florida, Ole Miss and Mississippi State at home, Missouri and LSU on the road.