The Texas Longhorns are the favorite national title contender in the College Football Playoff picture, and a good amount of the credit goes to the Arch Manning hype train.
Their QB game already has an undeniable hold, but it is the formidable-looking roster that head coach Steve Sarkisian finally seems to have nailed.
ESPN's FPI (Football Power Index), a scale that "measures a team's true strength on a net points scale; expected point margin vs average opponent on a neutral field," ranked Texas as the best team in college football currently at 28.5%, the highest on the board.
Top bluebloods like Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio State all fall behind the Longhorns in ESPN's rankings.
The metric also predicts the Longhorns' season to be a 10-2 season and end with a staggering 83.8% chance to make it to the College Football Playoff.
Sarkisian's squad also has a 37.7% chance to end up as a national championship contender, and a powerful 24.1% to win the CFP title, all of which are higher than all other teams.
Coincidentally, ESPN's SEC analyst Paul Finebaum cast his vote for Texas as his national title frontrunner team earlier this week.
"Absolutely. They have Arch Manning, in case you have not gotten that email from the front office. He is expected to be better than Quinn Ewers. I was not that impressed with Ewers last year. I think Arch Manning, had he come in Cotton Bowl, [Texas] may have had a better shot and maybe even beaten Ohio State. But he is going to be the leader of this team," Finebaum said of Manning on "Get Up!".
"They reloaded in the portal to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. I think Texas, other than having to go to Ohio State in Week 1, is in great shape."
Texas faces the Ohio State Buckeyes in its 2025 season opener on August 30.