Every year, there is always going to be a team that presents a philosophical challenge to the College Football Playoff committee.

This year, it’s going to be the Texas Longhorns.

At 9-3, they are on the cusp of consideration for the CFP. It’s a minor miracle that’s even the case after they came into the season hyped to the moon, only to lose their season opener to Ohio State and to a lowly Florida Gators team in October. However, with wins over Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M, they’ve put together an overall resume that stands up to scrutiny, especially given that season-opener was a road game against what is now the No. 1 team in the country.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian has made his case to the CFP committee. Paul Finebaum has called for the Longhorns to be in the CFP, saying that otherwise they’d be penalized for “doing the right thing” with their schedule.

However, in the penultimate CFP rankings, Texas is still on the outside looking in.

The penultimate 2025 College Football Playoff rankings are in, as Texas Tech slides into No. 4 and Ole Miss moves up a spot following Lane Kiffin’s departure. Guess he was holding them back. pic.twitter.com/BoEAAoUklZ

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 3, 2025

ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky shared his thoughts on the situation, saying that if Texas does indeed get left out, it’s likely to trigger a new strategy for fellow SEC squads: Schedule soft.

Thoughts on Texas and CFP pic.twitter.com/rtgRkyUsAW

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) December 2, 2025

“If Texas is left out of the top 12, I think what you’ll see is teams specifically from the SEC no longer scheduling challenging out-of-conference games early in the season, a lot like we saw Texas going to Ohio State this year,” Orlovsky said in a video posted to X. “Texas has accomplished a lot this year, whether you think they’re one of the 12 best teams or deserved, or earned, or all those phrases. I think they’re the only team that at the time when they played, the opponent has three wins against top 10 teams. They’re the only team, I think right now, that has presently ranked two wins against top 10 teams. They’re the only team that has three wins against top 15 teams. And I think the first team since 2019, LSU, that has three wins against the top 10.

“But there’s three losses in there. So if they are left out, I do think because of that week one on the road win against Ohio State and non-conference power. Teams from the SEC, specifically because they’re obviously one of the, if not the best, conferences in football, teams will sit there and go, ‘We’re not going to schedule challenging out-of-conference early-season games because there’s no need to, because if we lose, we’ll get penalized more than the benefit of winning.’”

Kirk Herbstreit also shared Orlovsky’s sentiment when he reacted to the news that Alabama was making changes to its non-conference schedule.

“Get ready to see this happen all over the sport,” he wrote on X. “If it’s only about how many wins ya have and not who you’re playing and where you’re playing, you’re gonna see every AD make these same moves. Kiss meaningful non-conference games in late August and early September goodbye. Cupcakes moving forward till teams get to conference play.”

It’s a little more nuanced than both Orlovsky and Herbstreit want to make it out to be. We’re talking about a Texas team with three losses, so if they find themselves in a tricky situation, that’s entirely their own making, regardless of the demanding schedule. As for SEC schools like Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M, they aren’t as concerned about this because they, y’know, won more games.

If Texas didn’t want this to be an issue, they probably should have beaten 4-8 Florida.

It’s understandible to want to give credit to a tough schedule, and that should be taken into consideration. But college football has always been about the wins and losses, and this whole push to devalue wins and make the schedule more important serves ESPN as a broadcast rights holder, but not for any real reason beyond that.