The Texas Longhorns didn’t just lose to Georgia; they got obliterated. And they paid for it in the polls.

After getting run off the field 35-10 in Athens, Texas plummeted seven spots in the latest College Football Playoff Top 25, falling from No. 10 to No. 17. The slide wasn’t surprising, but it was a harsh reminder of how far this team has drifted from championship form.

Georgia, meanwhile, happily stepped over the Longhorns on its way up, jumping from No. 5 to No. 4 thanks to Alabama’s loss to Oklahoma. Texas? The Longhorns are now sitting in the “mathematically alive, realistically not” section of the rankings.

With three losses already on the books, the absolute best Texas can finish is 9-3 – and that requires beating Arkansas this Saturday and upsetting No. 3 Texas A&M on Black Friday. That’s a tall order for a team that hasn’t looked like itself in a month, especially on defense.

Even ESPN’s analytics aren’t buying the burnt-orange optimism. According to the FPI, Texas has an 18.3 percent chance to reach the 12-team playoff, which sounds generous considering the current trend lines. If by some miracle they do sneak in, it would mark a third straight playoff appearance for the program – but “miracle” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

Inside the locker room, the players are, unsurprisingly, saying the right things.

“Arkansas is the most important game coming up,” running back CJ Baxter said. “Everything is still in front of us, but it doesn’t matter if we don’t handle business today and the rest of the week and then on Saturday. So really, just Arkansas is the most important game. I said it last week. I know I say the same stuff, but that’s just what we preach on, today is the most important day.”

He’s right. But the problem is that Texas keeps losing the big days. If the Longhorns want to stop the freefall, they’ll have to rediscover their identity – and fast – because Arkansas and Texas A&M aren’t showing up to help them feel better.

Below are the full CFP rankings — just in case you needed another reminder of how far the Horns fell this week.

College Football Playoff Top 25 Rankings

1. Ohio State

2. Indiana

3. Texas A&M

4. Georgia

5. Texas Tech

6. Ole Miss

7. Oregon

8. Oklahoma

9. Notre Dame

10. Alabama

11. BYU

12. Utah

13. Miami

14. Vanderbilt

15. USC

16. Georgia Tech

17. Texas

18. Michigan

19. Virginia

20. Tennessee

21. Illinois

22. Missouri

23. Houston

24. Tulane

25. Arizona State