In college football, should a team be punished for playing a demanding schedule? ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit says absolutely not. The longtime analyst issued an urgent plea to the sport of college football: stop judging teams only by wins and losses, and start valuing strength of schedule, before the committee repeats the same mistake it made with Texas this season.

“The Texas team we see now looks like a legitimate team,” Joey Galloway said on the Nonstop podcast.

Herbstreit immediately jumped in: “When you say now, that’s two weeks, Arkansas and Texas A&M, they got beat 35 to 10 three weeks ago at Georgia.

That has to be forgotten by Ohio State, which helped them win that 14-game streak. That’s the closest game Ohio State’s had all year. I think their stock went up by that game.”

Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway discussed how Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns shouldn’t get punished just because their season included some losses. But the problem is, when you look back earlier in the season, they didn’t always play like this. They got crushed by a 4–8 Florida team, and that game is the most significant stumbling block for the Longhorns.

The issue, Herbstreit argues, is that the playoff committee often evaluates teams based solely on their record. The difficulty of the schedule goes out the window, even though they record the losses. Playing on the road at places like Columbus or College Station doesn’t seem to matter when the committee starts comparing teams. Herbstreit even admitted his thinking shifted after receiving calls from coaches.

“I had conversations with people, and that’s what made me go out and tweet that, because I wouldn’t think in that way.

But when these guys reach out to me and say, I’m canceling this game, I’m f*** that I’m not playing. Why should I play that I’m not? They are passionate about it. Please keep playing these games, because your kids want to play in these games.”

Coaches are openly considering canceling big non-conference games because the system doesn’t reward them. Herbstreit hates that idea.

He summed it up perfectly: “If all we’re doing is counting losses, then hell yeah, don’t play anybody.”

Herbstreit then says this is precisely why Texas is being held back. They took a big swing by scheduling Ohio State, a game that was great for fans and great for the sport, and now they’re suffering for it. The Longhorns didn’t duck anyone. They challenged the defending national champions early in the season, and it hurt them on paper.

But despite having three losses on the sheet, they finished the year on a high note. They beat three top-10 teams, a feat previously accomplished only by the 2019 LSU/Burrow team. Plus, they also knocked out the undefeated, No. 3-ranked Texas A&M in rivalry week.

Herbstreit and Galloway both believe the Longhorns appear to be a team playing their best football at the right time, and the committee should consider it when making its decision.

But truth be told, a three-loss team rarely makes the playoffs, even if they’ve clearly improved. According to PFSN, Texas only has about a 2.5% chance. If they had played an easier opponent instead of the No. 1 team in the nation, they’d likely still be alive in the playoff race.

In his eyes, Texas shouldn’t be penalized for challenging itself. If the committee continues to punish teams for playing tough opponents, no one will schedule big early-season matchups anymore. However, the problem doesn’t end here.

The ACC faces a serious issue

The primary concern is that the ACC might be left entirely out of the expanded College Football Playoff (CFP). This could happen due to some complex tiebreaker rules. Those rules might let a team with a worse record sneak into the championship game. They then fail to rank high enough to earn an automatic bid. It’s a real problem, and ACC Commissioner Phillips is in the hot seat to address it.

The issue is that the new 12-team playoff guarantees spots to the top five conference champions. Moreover, the new 12-team playoff guarantees spots to the top five conference champions, not necessarily teams from ‘Power 5’ conferences. The ACC is concerned that a low-ranked champion (think an 8-5 Duke team) could leapfrog a Group of 5 champion, such as one from the AAC.

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A similar scenario occurred last season. A 10-2 Miami team missed the title game because of the current rules. It showed just how vulnerable the ACC is. Fans feel the conference has been too soft.

To address this, the ACC is now seriously considering changing its rules. They want to ensure their top-ranked team actually gets to play for the championship. It’s a bid to secure an automatic playoff spot.

Whether they use the CFP rankings as a tiebreaker or tweak the schedule, Phillips is now under pressure. He now has to ensure the ACC doesn’t get left behind when the playoffs roll around.