Analyst would be 'shocked' if Texas isn't in CFP title game, but daunting docket remains

As Week 3 in college football approaches, new Southeastern Conference school Texas has looked every bit the part of a national championship contender so far in the young 2024 season.

The Longhorns, last year as a member of the Big 12 Conference, reached the four-team College Football Playoff (CFP), falling to Washington in a semifinal matchup.

In 2024, Texas has its sights set on journeying further in the expanded 12-team CFP, and one national analyst appears quite high on the Longhorns, who last weekend crushed defending national champion Michigan on the road, 31-12.

Speaking this week on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" program, Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt said of Texas, "I mean, I would be shocked if this team is not right there at the end playing for a national championship," as shared by  Barkley Truax of On3.

That's a bold statement from Klatt, especially since the 2024 season is in its infancy. Heading into Week 3, the Longhorns (2-0) are ranked No. 2 nationwide in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Given that the CFP will include 12 participants this season, Texas certainly has an excellent shot of making it to this year's College Football Playoff. Thus far, the Longhorns have been impressive, buoyed by a top-10 scoring defense and an excellent quarterback in junior Quinn Ewers.

However, Texas also has several challenging encounters coming up. They include facing longtime rival and No. 15 Oklahoma in Dallas, hosting No. 1 Georgia, traveling to Vanderbilt (which has already knocked off Virginia Tech) and battling Texas A&M on the road in the regular-season finale.

Conversely, in SEC competition, the Longhorns won't have to play Alabama, Ole Miss, Missouri or Tennessee, all of which are ranked in the top 10.

In the SEC's preseason media poll, Texas was projected to finish No. 2 in the league standings, behind Georgia. And therein lies one issue for the Longhorns. Even if Texas rolls through much of its 2024 schedule, if the Bulldogs end up capturing the SEC championship, then they would get a first-round bye.

A lot of this is pure speculation since it's only Week 3 in college football. But for the time being, many national pundits are forecasting Georgia to land one of the top-four seeds in the CFP. Texas, even if it's in the top three of the polls, couldn't get a seed better than No. 5 and would have to play in the CFP's first round.

This also assumes that the Longhorns would be viewed as the best at-large team, while there are numerous high-quality programs in the SEC and throughout other Power Four conferences, such as Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon, Southern California, Miami, Utah and Oklahoma State, among others.

Klatt notes that Texas "probably is a national championship caliber team." He may be right. The Longhorns' home duel with top-ranked Georgia on October 19 should prove a good barometer of just how elite Texas can be in the 2024 season.