Colin Simmons insists Texas would have won 2025 title with CFP berth: ‘Of course’
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Colin Simmons might not have been the most high-profile Texas player to be speaking with reporters on Thursday afternoon at SEC Media Days in Tampa.
That badge no doubt belonged to Longhorns star quarterback Arch Manning. But Simmons just might have said the most controversial thing of any player in burnt orange as Media Days wrapped up in the Sunshine State. The star edge rusher and Dallas native told reporters that he really felt Texas would’ve made the most of a College Football Playoff berth last season.
Made the most as in the Horns would’ve run the table and won the national championship. The problem, of course, was that Texas was on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday after losing 3 regular-season games to go with its 9 victories. Sure, there were whispers of Manning and Texas slipping into the Playoff as the moment of truth approached.
But it didn’t happen, and Texas instead played and beat Michigan in the Citrus Bowl to at least finish with double-digit wins. Simmons felt it should’ve been much more than that when asked if the Longhorns would’ve won it all if that Playoff berth had been awarded to them.
“Hell yeah, of course,” said Simmons, a first-team All-SEC selection and a second-team All-American pick in 2025. “If we would’ve made the playoffs, I definitely feel like that chip that we had on our shoulders, we would have took it, and we would’ve ran with it.”
But that didn’t happen, and Simmons was forced to speculate about it on Thursday as Texas gets set for another season with very lofty expectations.
Perhaps Simmons will get that chance to lead Texas in a Playoff game this season, and the Longhorns will have a shot to win that national title in 2026. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about Texas’s chances to not only make the Playoff but win the whole thing in January:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
