College Football Insider Roasts SEC Fans For Predicting Texas' Downfall

The Georgia Bulldogs (11-3) fell to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-1) on Thursday. As a result, just one SEC team is still standing in the College Football Playoff. It's Texas.

The Texas Longhorns (13-2) join college football mainstays Ohio State (12-2), Penn State (13-2) and Notre Dame in the semifinal round of the playoff. That Texas would make it this far was not the expectation for the Longhorns' doubters when the team announced its move to the SEC.

Stewart Mandel of "The Athletic" weighed in on what Notre Dame's win over Georgia means for its reputation, as well as Texas' surprising rise to college football's final four on the social media platform, "X."

"Doesn't get more definitive than (Notre Dame) hammering the SEC champion/recent two-time national champ in a Playoff game. ... Meanwhile, after three years of 'Texas is going to get its brains beat in in the SEC,' they're the last SEC team left in their first year in the league."

To be sure, Mandel has had his own fair share doubts about Texas football over the years. Even so, he made sure to push back on the narrative so many embraced about Texas football heading into the SEC. 

Rather than struggle in its first season in the conference, the Longhorns went 11-1 in the regular season, reached the SEC championship and won two playoff games.