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Texas ranks No. 1 in first AP Poll of the 2025 season

by: Evan Vieth08/11/25
Steve Sarkisian
Steve Sarkisian says five, he just picked up five commitments

For the first time in school history, Texas has been ranked as the No. 1 team in the preseason AP Poll.

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Released at noon today, Texas earned 25 first-place votes and 1552 total points, beating out No. 2 Penn State with 23 first-place votes and 1547 points, as well as No. 3 Ohio State with 11 first-place votes and 1472 points. It is one of the closest preseason AP Polls in the history of the rankings.

Just last week, Texas made school history by earning the No. 1 spot in the coaches poll, another first in school history. The 2025 Horns aren’t done rewriting the record books, and it’s the first time that Texas ranks as a top-two team entering the year in both polls since 2009, when the Longhorns trailed the Tebow-led Gators and eventually lost in the national championship to Alabama.

Despite four national championships in the AP era spanning from the early ’60s to 2005, Texas has never been seen as the No. 1 team in the nation entering the year. In ’09 it was the Gators, in ’05 it was the mighty USC Trojans, and even the 1970 team, fresh off a national championship, was ranked behind Ohio State, joining Texas as one of three teams with a claim at the national championship that year.

The 2025 Longhorns squad has made waves over the offseason, being the betting favorite for almost the entirety of the time between the final whistle of the national championship and this poll. The Longhorns finished 2025 as a top-four team in both the AP and CFP polls and enter the year with Heisman betting favorite Arch Manning taking over at quarterback.

Unfortunately for those hoping for a No. 1 vs No. 2 matchup, Penn State barely edges out Ohio State for the second spot, creating a No. 1 vs No. 3 matchup in Columbus for Week One. Although it’s not a top-two matchup, the pairing of top-three-ranked teams is reminding Texas fans of some unpleasant history heading into the start of the season.

Just over 19 years ago, No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 2 Texas in Austin, marking the first and only time the No. 1 and No. 2 teams have played in the first two weeks of the year. It’s eerily fitting how much history will be backing this matchup, as we haven’t even mentioned that it will be Lee Corso’s last headgear pick of his College GameDay career.

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The stage is set for a truly one-of-a-kind season in the rich Texas Longhorn lineage: Year Five Sarkisian, Manning at the helm, and the highest preseason expectations in Longhorn history. But with the distractions of polls and firsts, the Longhorns are going to have their sights set on one thing: raising the burnt orange Longhorn flag in Columbus after a Week One win.

Preseason AP Poll Top 25

  1. Texas (25 first-place votes)
  2. Penn State (23)
  3. Ohio State (11)
  4. Clemson (4)
  5. Georgia (1)
  6. Notre Dame
  7. Oregon (1)
  8. Alabama
  9. LSU
  10. Miami
  11. Arizona State
  12. Illinois
  13. South Carolina
  14. Michigan
  15. Florida
  16. SMU
  17. Kansas State
  18. Oklahoma
  19. Texas A&M
  20. Indiana
  21. Ole Miss
  22. Iowa State
  23. Texas Tech
  24. Tennesse
  25. Boise State

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