Texas finishes No. 4 in the Coaches Poll, and several coaches didn't think that highly of the Horns
After a No. 3 finish in the AP Poll, the final Coaches Poll was also revealed on Tuesday. The Longhorns finished No. 4 in the final Coaches Poll behind national champion Michigan, No. 2 Washington, and No. 3 Georgia. The Bulldogs jumped three spots from No. 6 to No. 3 thanks to their dismantling of Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
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The No. 4 finish comes from an aggregation of top-25 ballots from 63 Football Bowl Subdivision coaches. Some thought highly enough of Texas to rank them No. 3, including:
- Coastal Carolina’s Tim Beck
- Louisville’s Jeff Brohm
- West Virginia’s Neal Brown
- Toledo’s Jason Candle
- Ohio State’s Ryan Day
- Washington’s Kalen DeBoer
- Washington State’s Jake Dickert
- Former UTEP head coach Dana Dimel
- TCU’s Sonny Dykes
- Georgia State’s Shawn Elliott
- Auburn’s Hugh Freeze
- WKU’s Tyson Helton
- Former San Diego State head coach Brady Hoke
- Georgia Tech’s Brent Key
- SMU’s Rhett Lashlee
- Kansas’ Lance Leipold
- Maryland’s Mike Locksley
- Miami (Ohio)’s Chuck Martin
- Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire
- Army’s Jeff Monken
- Nebraska’s Matt Rhule
- Alabama’s Nick Saban
- Cincinnati’s Scott Satterfield
- Georgia’s Kirby Smart
- Former Troy head coach Jon Sumrall
- Western Michigan’s Lance Taylor
- UTSA’s Jeff Traylor
- Former Nevada head coach Ken Wilson
Other coaches thought highly enough to rank Texas in the top five, but that placed the Horns sometimes behind a team they beat like Alabama. Or, behind Georgia or Florida State teams that didn’t even participate in the College Football Playoff.
Those positions are arguable but defensible. However, there were some coaches who didn’t include Texas, the 12-2 Big 12 champions who were a play away from playing Michigan in the national championship, in their final top five.
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Dino Babers, Syracuse
- Michigan
- Washington
- Georgia
- Florida State
- Oregon
- Texas
Terry Bowden, Louisiana-Monroe
- Michigan
- Washington
- Georgia
- Oregon
- Missouri
- Ole Miss
- Alabama
- Texas
Tom Herman, Florida Atlantic
- Michigan
- Washington
- Georgia
- Alabama
- Florida State
- Texas
Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh
- Michigan
- Washington
- Georgia
- Alabama
- Oregon
- Florida State
- Texas
Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
- Michigan
- Washington
- Georgia
- Florida State
- Alabama
- Ole Miss
- Missouri
- Texas
Kyle Whittingham, Utah
- Michigan
- Washington
- Georgia
- Oregon
- Missouri
- Ole Miss
- Alabama
- Texas
Three of the five coaches, Babers, Bowden, and Stockstill, were let go by their respective institutions. Herman was once head coach of the Longhorns. Whittingham and Narduzzi, longtime head coaches, didn’t play against the Longhorns this year.
Of course, coaches often don’t place these votes themselves, leaving it up to a member of their school’s media relations team.
But their names are the ones affixed to the vote, not those of the staffers. While most of the 63 voting coaches supported the notion of Texas as a top-five team, a handful of notable standouts only gave the Longhorns top-10 billing behind a number of teams that didn’t advance as far as Steve Sarkisian‘s program.
