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ESPN names college football fanbase angriest at latest CFP rankings
December has arrived, Week 14 has come and gone, and ’tis the season for debate in college football. A new set of College Football Playoff rankings dropped live on ESPN Tuesday night ahead of this weekend’s slate of conference championship matchups, setting the stage for plenty of arguing as the actual bracket reveal grows nearer.
The committee posted their penultimate rankings this week, which featured some unpredicted movement and made for a fascinating final slate to come given the various branches of so many teams still with a theoretical shot to make it into the field. However, there’s one fanbase which ESPN nominated as likely the angriest of them all in the fallout of Tuesday’s update: the Texas Longhorns.
Steve Sarkisian’s group is surely taking hairs off his head, hours from his sleep and years off his life during a circus 2025 season. The Longhorns are a baseline good college football team. They notched the most competitive loss of the season on the road against undefeated Ohio State in Week 1, conquered Playoff-bound Oklahoma on a neutral field, took down one of the nation’s other unbeatens in Week 14 with a rivalry win over Texas A&M at home, and staved off Diego Pavia and top-15 Vanderbilt.
Sure, the ‘Horns came up short against the Buckeyes, lost to a bad Florida team in a nightmare down in the Swamp, and let the fourth quarter really get out of hands in Athens at Georgia — but do three losses like this really override the great wins? The committee seems to think so, but ESPN’s David Hale disagrees.
David Hale: CFP committee should value wins
“It’s not entirely clear how this committee values wins,” he wrote on behalf of Texas fans. “For the past month, the priority has certainly appeared to be about which team has the better losses (unless, of course, you’re Alabama). That seems a foolish way to prioritize playoff teams, since the goal of the playoff isn’t to lose to good teams but to win games.”
Foolish or not, Texas’ tally of three losses vs. others’ two is a hard sticking point for the voters to overcome. The CFP committee has credited this 9-3 Texas club nonetheless, placing them 13th as the highest three-loss team in the country. Unfortunately for Hook ‘Em Nation, the ‘Horns are a stride or two behind the pack just near the finish line.
Hale’s article detailing the five fanbases most upset at the committee after Tuesday’s Playoff rankings ad Texas all the way up top, based on his shared view with Longhorn faithful that, in the Lone Star state, who you beat is worth a lot more than who you lost to. “Are we trying to find teams with the most upside or give participation trophies to the ones which have not lost an ugly one?” he asks.
He even argued that Texas should leapfrog, perhaps, a team like Notre Dame who’s sitting fairly pretty at No. 2 with their 10-2 record against a s hedule that’s softer than silk compared to Texas’ run through Ohio State plus a whole SEC slate. Is one loss really worth enough to separate those clubs? These are questions worth asking as the bracket reveal draws closer.