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Texas makes final arguments for its College Football Playoff case with dominant win in Big 12 title game

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook12/02/23josephcook89
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(SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK)

The College Football Playoff picture is as crowded as it has ever been, and in order to remain a part of it the No. 7 Texas Longhorns needed to defeat the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Big 12 Championship.

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More was at stake as well, like a chance to win the league’s title during Texas’ final season as members of the conference; like the opportunity to live up to expectations set by Steve Sarkisian and those involved with the league; like a chance to give one more final goodbye to Brett Yormark after his summer comments disparaging the Longhorns.

Texas claimed all of it, and in the process made an already strong case for a place in the four-team College Football Playoff stronger in a 49-21 win over Oklahoma State.

Sarkisian put forth his reasoning as to why the Longhorns deserve to hear their name called on Sunday during the CFP selection show during his postgame press conference.

“I think one thing we’ve shown, we’re a very complete football team. We don’t rely on one phase or one aspect of this team to win. We play great defense. That offense was averaging well over 400 yards a game. That was one of the top running backs in the country. We held them to 2.6 yards per carry. Just a fantastic effort, defensively.

Offensively when you go out and you have well over 600 yards, you’re able to throw it, you’re able to run it and you have almost three receivers over 100 and have another back go over 100 — and special teams.

That’s the thing I think about our team is unique. We are very, very versatile. We have extreme depth. And we can win at the line of scrimmage and we can win at the skill-position spots.

So this may be a little bullish of me saying, but we’ll play anybody in the country. I’m not shying away from that part. Like I feel very comfortable, if we get into this tournament, we’ll play anybody. We’ll find out if we’re good enough or not. But I feel like we have the team, the culture, the scheme and the versatility of this team to play against anybody.

His players agreed.

Said Jordan Whittington, who returned to Texas for a fifth year to win a Big 12 Championship, “I think we deserve a spot because we’re a really dominant team. We’re a conference champion. Put us in, and you’ll find out.”

Added Keilan Robinson, who had 95 total yards and two touchdowns, “put the best teams in. We’re clearly one of the best teams in the country, that’s why I think we deserve to be in the deal.”

The Longhorns played like one of the best teams in the country on Saturday, finalizing a one-loss resume the CFP Selection Committee will struggle leave out of the four-team field.

Texas ended the season as strong as it started the campaign, winning its last two games over Texas Tech and Oklahoma State by a combined score of 106-28. Ollie Gordon, the OSU running back who entered this contest as the nation’s leading rusher, managed 34 yards on 13 carries. The Longhorn offense obliterated the Cowboys’ 3-3-5 Flyover look to the tune of 662 yards led by Quinn Ewers‘ 452 yards through the air.

That beginning was strong too and includes what the Longhorns believe might be the jewel of their 2023 season: a 34-24 win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Plus, as Sarkisian made sure to note in his postgame availability, wins over two bowl-eligible teams in Rice and Wyoming.

That was followed by wins over Baylor and Kansas to open conference play before a three-turnover day led to the Longhorns’ only blemish in a 34-30 loss to Oklahoma. But after that game, the Longhorns went on to win six straight over Houston, BYU, Kansas State, TCU, Iowa State, and Texas Tech before the championship game beatdown of Oklahoma State.

“But to win that (Alabama) game by 10 points, I think, helped us as the season went on, and it helped us have some resolve when we did lose a gut-wrenching game in early October, but we bounced back the way we did,” Sarkisian said.

According to ESPN, Texas has the fifth best strength of record and the No. 13 strength of schedule — two more details the committee will have to consider. Plus, Texas is a lock to jump both Oregon, who lost on Friday to Washington, and Ohio State, who sat idle in Columbus and now have one fewer wins than Texas.

The events of championship Saturday, including Alabama vs. Georgia, Florida State vs. Louisville, and Michigan vs. Iowa, will have a say in whether the committee picks Texas to make the Playoff.

After 12 wins in 13 games including a conference championship, the Longhorns hope they’ve said enough.

“Do we think we’re one of those four? Sure, we do,” Sarkisian said. “But this isn’t a vote. We don’t all get to go to the election booth and vote. So it’s in their hands. All we can do is, like we told the players, control what we can control. Now let’s play the best football we could, and I thought we did that today and hopefully put in their minds what would it look like if Texas was in a four-team playoff.”

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