The Texas football program was by no means a national title contender throughout most of the 2019 season. But neither were the Alabama Crimson Tide after they fell short against the LSU Tigers and the Auburn Tigers in SEC play during the regular season.
The SEC West was a very crowded division in 2019. Any division, even among the Power Five conferences, that manages to leave a good Alabama team out of the conference title game is going to be tough to find any wiggle room. And the Crimson Tide could very well have fallen short against the eventual College Football Playoff National Champions, with LSU getting the best of them two months back.