Sunday Pessimism: Win over Texas A&M, but no CFP chance

We are back for the final Sunday Pessimism of the regular season, and it’s surrounding a 27-17 win over Texas A&M. Now, this is a rather complicated piece to write, because there are very few reasons on the football field to be pessimistic. The issue is the pessimism came firmly into play yesterday as Texas caught absolutely zero breaks in regards to their CFP hopes.

Let’s start with the game, because there are some things here that should be talked about. The first half of this game offensively was a microcosm of everything that was wrong with this unit in 2025. No run game to speak of outside of Manning scrambling, the OL getting beat time and again and multiple drops, penalties and other miscues that were unforced.

Now, the second half was a totally different story, and Sarkisian and company deserve all the respect in the world for that. However, it was incredibly clear in the first half of that game why the Longhorns needed a near miracle this weekend to make the CFP. The result was incredible, but the issues that were present from Ohio State on were present on Friday as well.

Now, I really don’t have too much more to be super pessimistic about around this game. Texas found a run game late with Tre Wisner, Ryan Wingo and Jack Endries made big plays in the pass game and the defense suffocated one of the top offenses in the country. The only other thing I lament about this game is Anthony Hill Jr. didn’t get a chance to suit up at DKR one more time.

Despite the game giving little pessimism, the following 24 hours gave plenty. I will write a piece tomorrow giving my full take on Texas’ CFP hopes and the Ohio State OOC debate that is going on right now. For now, I’ll say Texas went into Saturday needing about five different things to happen to have a shot at the CFP, and maybe one happened.

The Longhorns CFP hopes are gone. There really isn’t a spin zone that can be made at this point that there will be room for the Longhorns. A season that started with Texas at the top of the country ends with them on the outside of the CFP looking in. That is a massive disappointment and something that needs to be fixed moving forward.

There are plenty of reasons to feel confident in Arch Manning, Steve Sarkisian and the future of this Texas Longhorns program. That doesn’t change that the 2024 season will go down as a miss. That cannot be argued and frankly, a 9-3 season where you beat your three biggest rivals being a disappointment is a sign of what this program has become.

When you misevaluate how good you are at OL, things like losing to a 4-8 Florida team happens. When you force a first-year starter to carry your team, you are going to have an up-and-down season that ends with three losses.

We can discuss how close or far away this team was from what they “should’ve” been, but the bottom line is you failed to meet your goal. Period. Now, it’s time to figure out where you go from here, outside of maybe Orlando for the Pop Tart Bowl.

This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Sunday Pessimism: Win over A&M doesn't fix disappointing season