Texas sits third in this week's College Football Playoff rankings for next month's inaugural, 12-team field, though the Longhorns are also in a three-way logjam atop the Southeastern Conference's own standings.
What Steve Sarkisian's team does not have -- yet, anyway -- is a win against an opponent ranked within the confines of those CFP metrics; nor does Texas have a win this season against any team currently ranked in the AP or Coaches top-25 polls.
Michigan, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt were nationally ranked at the time that Texas dispatched those teams, and Georgia, which handed the Longhorns their only loss this season, was and is ranked.
Unranked Arkansas hosts Texas Saturday at noon, but head Hog Sam Pittman isn't lending any credence to the Longhorns skeptics.
"Well, a lot of times critics don't know what the hell they're talking about," Pittman said Wednesday on the SEC's weekly coaches call, "and I don't think they know much what they're talking about on this one, either.
"This is a damn-fine Texas team. I mean, you don't go beat Oklahoma by 31 and Mississippi State by 22 and, you know, beat Michigan by 19, beat Colorado State 52-0 and have a sorry football team. I mean, you just don't."
Colorado State controls its destiny to play for the Mountain West Conference championship likely against Boise State, the CFP's current highest-ranked Group of Five team at No. 13.
Regardless, Pittman sees Texas as elite.
"These guys are ranked 3 in the country because they deserve it and they're a really well-coached football team," Pittman said. "Coach Sark is one of the best in the business, there's no question about it. And they've got talent.
"It's not their fault that they haven't played, let's say, a schedule like ours. We've played LSU and Ole Miss and A&M and Tennessee. The schedule's the schedule and what they've done is done a damn-fine job with their schedule and they've got a good football team."
In addition to their game this week at Arkansas, the Horns have their home finale next week against Kentucky and close the regular season at archrival Texas A&M Nov. 30.