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With championship weekend complete, the final College Football Playoff rankings were announced on Sunday afternoon. As expected following a 39-27 Big 12 Championship loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, the Texas Longhorns regressed in the rankings, but only a bit, falling from just one spot from No. 14 to No. 15 nationally.
Here's the final #CFBPlayoff Top 2️⃣5️⃣:
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) December 2, 2018
1️⃣1️⃣. LSU // @LSUfootball
1️⃣2️⃣. Penn State // @PennStateFball
1️⃣3️⃣. Washington State // @WSUCougFB
1️⃣4️⃣. Kentucky // @UKFootball
1️⃣5️⃣. Texas // @TexasFootball
Texas is currently one of four Big 12 teams ranked, along with No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 16 West Virginia, and No. 24 Iowa State.
With Texas still owning a place within the top 15 in the playoff rankings, the Longhorns will enter their New Year’s Six bowl bid to the Sugar Bowl as a top 15 team in each major poll, as the Longhorns are now slotted at No. 14 in the AP Top 25 and in the Amway Coaches Poll, seeing a five-spot slide from their previous placement at No. 9 in each poll, respectively.
Given its current placement in each poll, Texas is seemingly certain to finish the 2018 campaign as a ranked program, regardless of the outcome in the Sugar Bowl. Should this come to fruition, it would mark the first time Texas has finished a season ranked since 2009.