Arch Manning and the Longhorns eye a 2026 playoff rematch with Ohio State. Can Texas finally conquer the Buckeyes and make a championship run?
Let's do it again!
The Texas Longhorns fell short of the College Football Playoffs in 2025, despite starting the year as a No. 1-ranked team going 9-3 in the regular season.
What will Arch Manning and company do this yeat?
ESPN’s Bill Connelly has projected a return to CFP greatness.
Connelly, the creator of ESPN’s SP+ metric, has the Longhorns as being among the SEC's top-ranked teams.
Connelly has Georgia and Texas as being highly regarded ... and of course we know that coach Steve Sarkisian and his Longhorns are 0-3 so far against the Bulldogs.
Maybe that's why Connelly projects that Texas finishes with only the third-highest ranking in the SEC, falling behind Georgia (No. 2) and Texas A&M (No. 10). ...
Which would put UT again No. 7 Ohio State - yes, another rematch with the Buckeyes.
Most notably and most recently, OSU and Texas clashed first on Jan. 1, 2025, when they met in the semifinal of the 2024 College Football Playoff. Ohio State won that one at home, 28-14, and continued on its path to a national championship.
And then ... the beginning of the 2025 campaign, when Ohio State won again, 14-7.
Oh, and next up? Yup, as we suggest above ... let's do it again, as we open the 2026 season with the Buckeyes traveling to Austin.
And then onto the CFP, where Connelly projects Texas to top OSU before then losing to those pesky Georgia Bulldogs.
We are, of course, getting way ahead of ourselves here with fun football guesses. The Longhorns have a lot of business to take care of before we start hand-wringing over specific matchups in the far-away 2026 College Football Playoff ... but is does make sense to project that some of that "business'' is going to involve the Buckeyes from Ohio State.