Paul Finebaum opines on whether Texas could make College Football Playoff as a three loss team

Texas isn’t out of the College Football Playoff picture just yet, even with two losses. Appearing on Get Up Wednesday, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said the Longhorns could still make a case as a potential three-loss contender, as long as they finish the season strong.

“Yes, if, of course, they beat Texas A&M at the end of the season,” Finebaum said, regarding if Texas can make the dance if they lose this weekend at Georgia. “That would be one of the best wins of the year.

“I know you don’t get in the playoff because you have good losses, but tell me America, who has a better loss than Texas? A seven-point game at Ohio State in the opening weekend of the year. We thought it was terrible, but in the end, it may have been a pretty decent performance, all things considered.”

The Longhorns entered their bye week having won four straight and climbed to No. 10 in the latest CFP rankings. Sitting at 7-2, they’ll face the Bulldogs this weekend in one of the most pivotal games of the season before closing their season with Texas A&M.

Finebaum believes that, given the context of their schedule, the Longhorns’ résumé still holds national weight, especially compared to other two-loss teams: “Now, they were the No. 1 team in the country at the time, but I think they would dwarf anyone else for consideration with three losses, and, quite frankly, quite a few with two, because of their schedule,” he explained.

Still, he acknowledged one major blemish that could keep Texas from breaking through, and that’s the road loss at Florida: “The one glaring error for them, they lost at Florida. That is going to haunt them,” Finebaum added.

With November shaping up to be a defining stretch for Steve Sarkisian’s squad, Finebaum framed Texas as the ultimate outlier in this year’s playoff race: “Realistically, Texas is the wild card,” he added, regarding how many SEC teams can make the 12-team dance.

In the end, the Longhorns are certainly a team talented enough to hang with anyone. However, they’re burdened by losses that make their path to the playoff razor-thin.

We’ll see if they can eliminate some doubt by noticing a gigantic victory over Georgia this weekend. That game will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. on ABC on Saturday evening.