College football has changed rapidly over the last decade, and it looks like all that hard work will finally come to fruition in 2024. With conference realignment sorted out for now and the introduction of the 12-team playoffs, every Saturday will be scheduled on television in the fall.
For the Texas Longhorns, the transition to the SEC probably couldn’t have come at a better time, as they are coming off a 12-win season that included a Big 12 title and a berth in the College Football Playoff. It certainly doesn’t hurt that QB Quinn Ewers returns to the Forty Acres for his third season as a starter. Ewers is already widely projected as a first-round pick, but with a big campaign in 2024, he could easily become a top-five pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Texas will have one of the toughest schedules in the country with games against the defending national champion Michigan wolverinespreseason number 1 Georgia Bulldogsand his first confrontation with the Texas A&M Aggies since 2011. However, anything short of a playoff appearance would be a disappointing season.
With less than two months left in the season, Sporting News predicts the 12-team playoff field, as well as all other bowl games.
The Longhorns are projected to be a No. 5 seed and would host No. 12 Memphis in Austin in the first round. Texas is expected to beat Memphis and then win the Florida State Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl before losing to the Georgia Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl semifinals.
Sporting News also projects the Oklahoma earlier lose the playoffs and face the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Gator Bowl, as well as Texas A&M facing the Nebraska Cornhuskers at the Reliaquest Bowl.
