Texas A&M Football: ESPN FPI rankings came out and… really?

#6 Texas

The one you have been waiting for and likely the reason you clicked on this article.

Next to Miami, the Longhorns are the off-season champs. No team has ever continuously been ranked so highly just to finish so low in the same rankings a few weeks later. They have been bringing in some names through the portal and finished with another top-5 recruiting class.

But will they be able to finally beat their arch-nemesis? No, not Kansas… the preseason hype.

Texas will once again have talent and be in its second year of the Sarkisian era. Year one was beyond forgetful with dreadful losses to West Virginia, Kansas, and the beat down by Iowa State. Will this finally be the year Texas will be back? My short answer is no. But I will say there isn’t a 0% chance of it happening.

Texas’s first test will be Alabama, followed up by UTSA who had a very good season last year and may be just as tough. West Virginia comes to Austin with likely QB starter JT Daniels, so they could become another tough team to beat. They are lucky Oklahoma is going through what could be a rebuilding year but, then again, they were up by 4+ TDs on them last year before losing. Then, to round it out, the play at Oklahoma State (inches away from winning the Big 12 last year), their rival Kansas in Lawrence, then Baylor who is supposed to be as good this year as they were last.

ESPN and major sports stations are dying for Texas to be back but I just do not see it this year. I will gladly own it if I am wrong but their schedule is not a pushover schedule as they have some games that a poorly placed near each other. If their offense can put it together and their defense is better than average they could make a run at any game outside of Alabama. But this is why we play the game.