Texas likely to play in its first road matchup between two top-10 teams since 2008

No. 1 Texas’ 39-33 loss to No. 6 Texas Tech during the 2008 season stands out in the memory of Longhorn fans for plenty of contemptible reasons. But ahead the 2023 Longhorns’ trip to Tuscaloosa to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide, that game acts as the most recent occurrence of one of the more exciting events in college football. The 2008 Longhorns’ trip to Lubbock was the last time the UT football program played a matchup between two top 10 teams on the road.

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The Week 2 AP poll is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, and the No. 11 Longhorns are good bets to move into the top 10 thanks to losses by No. 5 LSU and No. 9 Clemson to No. 8 Florida State and Duke, respectively.

With both Texas and Alabama likely to receive top-10 billing, this will set up the Longhorns’ fifth top-10 matchup since the Michael Crabtree game and the first since Joe Burrow and No. 6 LSU defeated No. 9 Texas in the early portions of the 2019 season.

The other three top-10 contests the Longhorns have been a part of have been neutral site games. Later in the 2008 season, Colt McCoy and the No. 3 Longhorns defeated No. 10 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. One year later, No. 2 Texas lost to No. 1 Alabama in the 2010 BCS National Championship Game. Texas would then go almost a decade without playing a top-10 game until the 2018 Big 12 Championship. The No. 9 Longhorns fell to Kyler Murray and the Oklahoma Sooners in a rematch of a regular season classic during the Red River Shootout in the Cotton Bowl.

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There have been a number of occasions where Texas entered the home of or played a neutral site game versus another top-10 team, only for themselves to be just outside the elite group of 10 or unranked altogether. Those trips include:

• 2010 – No. 21 Texas vs. No. 8 Oklahoma – L 28-20
• 2010 – Texas at No. 5 Nebraska – W 20-13
• 2011 – No. 11 Texas vs. No. 3 Oklahoma – L 55-17
• 2011 – No. 22 Texas at No. 6 Oklahoma State – L 38-26
• 2012 – No. 23 Texas at No. 7 Kansas State – L 42-24
• 2013 – No. 23 Texas at No. 9 Baylor – L 30-10
• 2013 – Texas vs. No. 10 Oregon – L 30-7
• 2015 – Texas at No. 4 TCU – L 50-7
• 2015 – Texas vs. No. 10 Oklahoma – W 24-17
• 2017 – Texas at No. 4 USC – L 27-24
• 2017 – Texas at No. 10 TCU – L 24-7
• 2018 – No. 19 Texas vs. No. 7 Oklahoma – W 48-45
• 2018 – No. 14 Texas vs. No. 6 Georgia – W 28-21
• 2019 – No. 11 Texas vs. No. 6 Oklahoma – L 34-27
• 2020 – Texas at No. 6 Oklahoma State – W 41-34
• 2021 – No. 21 Texas vs. No. 6 Oklahoma – L 55-48

That’s a 5-11 mark for the above games.

And versus top-10 opponents at home since the Texas Tech game in 2008?

• 2011 – No. 22 Texas vs. No 6 Oklahoma State – L 38-26
• 2012 – No. 11 Texas vs. No. 8 West Virginia – L 48-45
• 2014 – Texas vs. No. 7 Baylor – L 28-7
• 2014 – Texas vs. No. 6 TCU – L 48-10
• 2016 – Texas vs. No. 10 Notre Dame – W 50-47
• 2016 – Texas vs. No. 8 Baylor – W 35-34
• 2017 – Texas vs. No. 10 Oklahoma State – L 13-10
• 2022 – Texas vs. No. 1 Alabama – L 20-19
• 2022 – No. 18 Texas vs. No. 4 TCU – L 17-10.

Since the 2008 Texas Tech game, Texas is 1-2 as a top-10 team versus another top-10 team, 5-11 versus top-10 teams on the road or at a neutral site, and 2-7 versus top-10 teams at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Add it all up and that’s an 8-20 mark.

Much of that time coincided with a tumbling from the highest echelon of college football, with one or two seasons of flash without foundation for the Longhorn program. The reasons behind Texas’ struggles versus top 10 teams are numerous, but it can be boiled down to the fact that Texas was often anything but a top-10 program in the time frame those contests were held.

Texas more than likely will have an opportunity to make that record 9-20 on Saturday, should the AP poll voters place one of Clemson or LSU behind the Longhorns in Tuesday’s poll.

It’ll be an opportunity 15 years in the making.