Can The University of Texas Win a National Championship in 2018?
Can the Texas Longhorns make the College football playoff and win the National Championship? One Fox Sports Analyst seems to think so. Robert Smith made the call on a season preview show this week claiming that the horns are blue blood. Here's the clip of the analysts making their predictions.
The usual suspects are all mentioned. Alabama and Clemson show up on most of the lists. Washington, Ohio State and Wisconsin are also strong contenders. Georgia is the second SEC team that shows up on the list after playing in the National Championship game a year ago.
It's those six contenders across the board and then Texas, as a National Champion no less.
This is a ridiculous pick. There is absolutely no chance that the Texas Longhorns win the National Championship. Zero. They graduated NFL talent off the defensive side and o-line. Their wide receiver group is spotty and inconsistent. The QB room is undecided. They don't have a Heisman candidate.
Do I think the Horns will be better than they were in 2017? Probably.
Is it asinine to proclaim a National Championship road through Austin, Texas? Yes.
This isn't all about the Longhorns though, contrary to popular belief, I just think that 2018 is another year where the Big 12 could be outside the playoff looking in.
Now that the SEC has set the precedent of getting two teams in the playoff, with the non-SEC champion winning the National Championship, there could once again be two conferences on the outside looking in.
If there are just three conferences represented, the SEC is a lock with Clemson a seemingly surefire lock as well. If it comes down to the Big 10, Big 12 and Pac 12, a champion Washington and champion Big 10 squad will have a better resume than a beaten up Big 12 Champion, and with the myriad of problems on the Longhorn roster they could still totally be a two or three loss Big 12 Champion.
All that being said, would it surprise anyone if that two-loss Big 12 Champion Longhorn squad got in over a one-loss Pac 12 champion? No, it wouldn't.