Texas projected to jump from No. 19 back into the AP top 10 after beating Ole Miss
CBS Sports projects Texas to rise from No. 19 to No. 10 in Sunday's AP poll after the 34-27 win over No. 7 Ole Miss. Mississippi State comes to Austin next.
Texas ended its two-game losing streak Saturday by beating No. 7 Ole Miss 34-27 in Austin. CBS Sports' weekly projection says the win should be enough to lift the Longhorns from No. 19 back into the top 10 when the new AP poll comes out Sunday.
In CBS Sports' Tomorrow's Top 25 Today, Chip Patterson puts Texas at No. 10. He called its résumé "the most complicated profile of the week" for voters. The Longhorns have beaten Ohio State, Tennessee and now Ole Miss, but they've also lost to Oklahoma and Florida. Patterson expects voters to treat Texas as the best two-loss team in the country. A wild Week 8 made that easier: No. 2 BYU and No. 8 Texas Tech both lost to unranked teams, and Tennessee lost at South Carolina. CBS projects BYU to fall to No. 5, Texas Tech to No. 12, Ole Miss to No. 15 and Tennessee to No. 18.
The win was harder than the final score suggests. The Houston Chronicle reported that Texas gave up a 21-point halftime lead before Arch Manning scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard bootleg in the final three minutes. On3 noted that an opponent recovered an onside kick against Texas in the closing minutes for the second time this season. Even so, Texas held on for its second home win over a top-10 team this year.
The move matters for the College Football Playoff picture. Two weeks ago, Texas looked like it was falling out of the race. A top-10 ranking with three quality wins puts Steve Sarkisian's team back among the contenders as November nears.
What it means for Mississippi State
Texas is 5-2 and hosts Mississippi State on Saturday, Oct. 31. The season so far shows a team that dominates weaker opponents and plays almost every big game down to the wire. The Longhorns beat Texas State 59-7 and UTSA 30-6. Against everyone else, the margins have been tiny: 24-23 over Ohio State, 20-17 at Tennessee, 34-27 over Ole Miss, and back-to-back 27-24 losses to Oklahoma and Florida. That makes five games decided by seven points or fewer, and Texas is 3-2 in them.
Overall, Texas has outscored opponents 215-134. More than half of that 81-point edge came from the two nonconference blowouts. In the five Power Four games, Texas is only plus-four combined. That's the main question for the Mississippi State game. After losing the Ole Miss lead and dropping two straight close SEC games, Texas needs to show it can hold a lead against a conference opponent.
The schedule after that stays tough. CBS notes that LSU, projected at No. 16, has Alabama, Texas and Tennessee in consecutive weeks after its bye. A top-10 ranking gives Texas more room for error in the playoff race, but only if it keeps winning. With two losses already, a third would likely end its playoff hopes.
