Heather Dinich calls Texas X-factor in College Football Playoff rankings: 'They impact other contenders' resumes'

A week out from the initial College Football Playoff rankings, some teams bring more intrigue than others. One of those might be the Texas Longhorns, who are 6-2 after an overtime win vs. Mississippi State. However, going by the eye test, you might be a little lower on Steve Sarkisian‘s group than the record indicates.

The big thing with Texas is opportunity. ESPN’s Heather Dinich explains how the Longhorns can be an X-factor moving forward based on results. Just thinking about their own interests, three big-time matchups against Vanderbilt, Georgia, and Texas A&M remain.

“As poorly as they’ve played, they’ve still been winning,” Dinich said Tuesday on ESPN2. “Back-to-back road games, overtime. They’re still in this thing.”

Texas might be going without starting quarterback Arch Manning on Saturday. Suffering a concussion in Starkville, backup Matthew Caldwell would step into the starting role if Manning cannot play. Not exactly the recipe wanted heading into an important stretch.

Injury reports will be the most intriguing storyline before kickoff at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. A motivated Vanderbilt comes to town fresh off a massive victory of their own against Missouri. Clark Lea has the program buzzing and believing they can beat anyone. So while quarterback is not the biggest issue facing UT at the moment, Manning’s status will be closely tracked.

Either way, how Texas performs affects more than just them in the CFP. Teams hoping to use them as a positive data point on the resume might lose a quality result. Dinich mentioned Ohio State as the specific example but maybe the likes of Vanderbilt and Texas A&M as well. Dropping into the range of 8-4 or 7-5 makes them not as impressive a win.

“They impact all of those other contenders’ resumes,” Dinich said. “Including Ohio State. So, if Texas were to go on a downward spiral here and fade out of the picture into irrelevance, how does that Ohio State’s resume? How does it impact Vandy’s resume? What does a win against Texas mean in the end on selection day?”

Of course, the goal for Texas is to take care of its own business and make the College Football Playoff. A bid would mark three consecutive seasons, making the semifinal in each of them. Getting back there is not expected at this point and if pulled off, Sarkisian might have pulled off his best coaching job to date.