Texas ranked 11th in preseason AP poll and is top team in Big 12
Texas, looking to parlay a talented roster filled with returning standout players, landed at No. 11 on the preseason Associated Press poll that was released Monday, marking the Longhorns’ highest ranking in the season’s initial poll since 2019.
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It’s the sixth time in the past seven seasons that Texas was listed in the preseason ranking of college football’s Top 25 teams. The Longhorns went 8-5 last year and finished 25th in the final AP poll.
Texas was ranked 12th in the preseason USA Today/Coaches Poll that was released Aug. 14, giving the Longhorns a spot in that listing for seven straight seasons.
The Longhorns are the top-ranked Big 12 Conference team in the AP poll, mirroring the USA Today/Coaches list. In the AP poll, the conference is also represented by defending league champion Kansas State at No. 16, TCU (which played in the CFP national championship game last year) at 17th and Oklahoma at No. 20.
Long-time and future rival Texas A&M is slotted at 23 as the sixth of seven Southeastern Conference teams in the AP’s initial poll.
It’s the first time since 2008 and sixth time in poll history that the Longhorns have been ranked in the 11th spot in the preseason AP poll. The Longhorns exceeded those expectations three times: in 1952 when they finished 10th, in 1975 when they were sixth and in 2008 when Texas went 12-1 and finished the season ranked fourth.
Texas has performed better than its preseason rankings just twice in the past six seasons. The Longhorns were ranked 23rd heading into 2018 and finished ninth thanks to a win over Georgia in the 2019 Allstate Sugar Bowl. Last year Texas was not ranked heading into the season but finished at No. 25.
The Longhorns’ schedule features six home games and 10 contests that will be contested in the Lone Star State. Texas’ only regular-season games out of the state are at Alabama on Sept. 9 and in Ames against Iowa State on Nov. 18.
Texas’ opponents for the 2023 campaign combined for an overall record of 92-66 (.582) last season and 11 of the 12 participated in a bowl game, including three who played in New Year’s Six bowls (TCU, Alabama and Kansas State). Three of the Longhorns’ foes this year won at least 10 games in 2022 (Kansas State with 10, TCU (13), and Alabama (11).
Two-time defending national champion Georgia tops the AP poll and is followed by Michigan in both rankings. Ohio State is No. 3 in the AP poll and Alabama is at No. 4; those positions are flipped from the USA Today/Coaches Poll. The two polls have the following five teams identically ranked – LSU at No. 5, followed by USC, Penn State, Florida State and Clemson.
Washington (which beat Texas in the Valero Alamo Bowl to conclude the 2022 season) is ranked above the Longhorns in the AP poll, while Tennessee is at 10 and Washington is at 11 in the USA Today/Coaches Poll.
Since 2004, every eventual national champion was ranked among the AP preseason poll’s top 7 choices except for Auburn (which started the 2010 season at No. 22) and Florida State (started at No. 11 in 2023).
