OTF Premium Longhorns in the Polls: Texas maintains No. 1 ranking after 20-17 road win over Tennessee

[Jeff Howe]

A 20-17 road win over Tennessee convinced voters in the Associated Press Top 25 and the AFCA Coaches Poll to name Texas the nation's No. 1 team for the third consecutive week.

The Longhorns controlled their victory over the Volunteers throughout the program’s first-ever trip to Neyland Stadium on Saturday. Texas (4-0, 1-0 SEC) notched its 12th win over an AP Top 25 opponent since the start of the 2024 season thanks to a defensive effort highlighted by 10 sacks, five of which came from Colin Simmons.

Simmons tied Shane Dronett’s single-game school sack record (set against Texas Tech on Nov. 3, 1990), helping the Longhorns record the second double-digit sack game in school history. With the Texas defensive front dominating Tennessee (3-1, 0-1), Will Muschamp’s defense held the Vols’ explosive offense to 2.9 yards per play, 1.6 yards per rushing attempt and a 6-for-21 showing on money downs (4-for-17 on third down and 2-for-4 on fourth down).

The coming week will be the 53rd in the history of the AP Poll that the Longhorns have been ranked No. 1. Texas is one week behind Georgia’s 54 weeks at No. 1 for the ninth-most appearances in the AP Poll’s top spot, fitting since the Bulldogs are on the Longhorns’ heels for positioning atop college football’s two major polls.

Texas earned 62 of 70 possible first-place votes from AP Top 25 voters. The remaining eight first-place votes went to No. 2 Georgia (six), No. 4 Miami (one) and No. 6 Indiana (one); No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 5 Ohio State round out the latest top five.

The same is true for the Coaches Poll. The Longhorns got 45 of the 73 first-place votes, followed by the second-ranked Bulldogs (17) and fifth-ranked Hoosiers (eight). The third-ranked Fighting Irish received three votes; the Hurricanes are No. 4 in the Coaches Poll, with the Buckeyes No. 6.

The No. 1 ranking and an undefeated record position Texas as a legitimate College Football Playoff contender entering the Red River Shootout against Oklahoma on Oct. 10 (2:30 p.m., ABC or ESPN). The Longhorns' higher priority is to use the bye week to get healthy and clean things up before their annual grudge match with the Sooners in Dallas, which begins a stretch of eight consecutive SEC games to conclude the regular season.

Although Tennessee dropped to No. 17 after Saturday's loss, the Vols are one of six current AP Top 25 clubs on Texas' SEC schedule. Oklahoma (2-2, 0-1) isn't ranked. Neither are Arkansas or Texas A&M. Still, the Longhorns are scheduled to face No. 8 Florida (Oct. 17), No. 9 Ole Miss (Oct. 24), No. 16 Mississippi State (Oct. 31), No. 25 Missouri (Nov. 7) and No. 11 LSU (Nov. 14) over five consecutive weeks.

Saturday's win over Tennessee validated Steve Sarkisian's belief that his team's big-game experience will be an asset while Texas faces one of the nation's toughest schedules. The Longhorns have won 12 of their last 17 games against AP Top 25 opponents and after struggling on the road last season, Sarkisian isn't taking a win over the Vols for granted.

"We’ve got a real schedule," Sarkisian said during his postgame press conference in Knoxville. "That's why I say, 'I'm not going to apologize for winning on the road against a top-15 team,' when other teams don't even play them on the road. We're going to enjoy this. We need to get better. We need to play better. But I know there's more to come. We've got to have a mentality when we go on the road against these good teams that we're going to find a way to win. The easiest way to do that is to play well, but when you're not at your best in one phase or another phase, can you find a way to win the game and then get better going into the next week?”

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[TheRoJoShow]

Florida Texas gonna be top 8 matchup. Didn’t think that going into the year. Buckle up. 

[Connor Vaughn]

I think we all can agree that we aren’t the No. 1 team in America right now. Sure we have the best looking resume through 4 weeks, but our eyes don’t lie. This offense is putrid. 

[NTXHornsFan]

3 minutes ago, TheRoJoShow said:

Florida Texas gonna be top 8 matchup. Didn’t think that going into the year. Buckle up. 

Might be top 5 they way they’re playing

[HookemChappy]

1 minute ago, Connor Vaughn said:

I think we all can agree that we aren’t the No. 1 team in America right now. Sure we have the best looking resume through 4 weeks, but our eyes don’t lie. This offense is putrid. 

Quoting Sark. “That’s how losers think.”

[Alex Butler]

Our schedule just keeps getting harder and harder even with TAMU and OU underperforming! 

[TheRoJoShow]

4 minutes ago, NTXHornsFan said:

Might be top 5 they way they’re playing

Don’t see 2-7 losing but definitely could happen. Bama at Miss St will be interesting. 

[NothinButDaHorns34]

9 minutes ago, Connor Vaughn said:

I think we all can agree that we aren’t the No. 1 team in America right now. Sure we have the best looking resume through 4 weeks, but our eyes don’t lie. This offense is putrid. 

Very concerning we’re having this conversation about a coach dubbed a “offensive guru” when he was hired. Muschamp defense is only in week 4 and already looking elite, But sark’s has only looked elite in spurts while he’s been here. 

[kren]

18 minutes ago, Connor Vaughn said:

I think we all can agree that we aren’t the No. 1 team in America right now. Sure we have the best looking resume through 4 weeks, but our eyes don’t lie. This offense is putrid. 

I agree, but that’s not the point of the poll. It’s a resume based poll, not how good a team has looked. The issue is people thinking it’s the latter

[HookEmLonghorns]

We earned #1. Results against good teams matter more than looking good against bad teams. 

I’m glad people vote on strength of record and not just the eye test. If it was the other way around, the college football season would eventually be full of even more cupcakes and boring games.

As a fan with no real stakes in the game, I feel blessed that we have so many big games Sep-Dec. It’s so much more fun (as a non-doomer) to watch multiple huge matchups every month, instead of boring Notre Dame type games. It would be so lame for them if they lose in the first round or two of the cfp because they’re not battle tested at all. 

We are by far the most battle tested undefeated team right now. That’s why we’re #1 🤘

Edited 39 minutes ago by HookEmLonghorns

[WWDKRD]

"Nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be this hard."

Coldplay's take on the season this far.

[Nathan Larson]

10 SEC schools ranked

Edited 26 minutes ago by Nathan Larson

[Jarveaux]

I’m done with anyone on OTF that Questions our coach . Sark has forgotten more about football than anyone on OTF will ever know. Please remove me from this forum. I’m too old to continue listening to this bullshit about Sark . We are so fortunate he’s our coach. 

[MBHORNSFAN]

My top 6

 

Georgia 

ND

Texas

OSU

Miami 

Indy 

[BurntOrangeHorn]

50 minutes ago, Connor Vaughn said:

I think we all can agree that we aren’t the No. 1 team in America right now. Sure we have the best looking resume through 4 weeks, but our eyes don’t lie. This offense is putrid. 

Good Bull Hunting needs you badly!!!  Go there now!!!

🤘🏻🤘🏼🤘🤘🏽🤘🏾🤘🏿

[MBHORNSFAN]

54 minutes ago, Connor Vaughn said:

I think we all can agree that we aren’t the No. 1 team in America right now. Sure we have the best looking resume through 4 weeks, but our eyes don’t lie. This offense is putrid. 

Honestly rankings in September are useless. Get in the playoffs and see what happens is the goal. 

[BurntOrangeHorn]

10 minutes ago, Jarveaux said:

I’m done with anyone on OTF that Questions our coach . Sark has forgotten more about football than anyone on OTF will ever know. Please remove me from this forum. I’m too old to continue listening to this bullshit about Sark . We are so fortunate he’s our coach. 

Many of today's forum coaches believe they know more about any program than the actual coaches and their recruits and players. Humility has surrendered to hubris for most CFB fans. SAD.

🤘🏻🤘🏼🤘🤘🏽🤘🏾🤘🏿

[VaHorn]

It would’ve been heartbreaking to lose with an onside kick that went out of bounds, but Sark called a timeout. And then to have an illegal onside kick (in execution) that wasn’t flagged and isn’t reviewable once allowed. 

[BurntOrangeHorn]

37 minutes ago, kren said:

I agree, but that’s not the point of the poll. It’s a resume based poll, not how good a team has looked. The issue is people thinking it’s the latter

Résumé is the noun for which you grasp.

Resume is a verb.

🤘🏻🤘🏼🤘🤘🏽🤘🏾🤘🏿

[MBHORNSFAN]

16 minutes ago, Jarveaux said:

I’m done with anyone on OTF that Questions our coach . Sark has forgotten more about football than anyone on OTF will ever know. Please remove me from this forum. I’m too old to continue listening to this bullshit about Sark . We are so fortunate he’s our coach. 

 

Though I tend to agree with you this is not the University of Sark.