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

Saturday's 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. 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) at the point of attack, 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 as Texas faces one of the nation's toughest schedules, with the Longhorns winning 12 of their last 17 games against AP Top 25 opponents.

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?”