AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Longhorns are the top-ranked team in college football for the first time in 16 years.
Buoyed by a 56-7 win over UTSA and Georgia’s 13-12 nail-biting victory over Kentucky, the Longhorns leaped the Bulldogs in the new rankings released Sunday by the Associated Press. Texas received 35 first-place votes and 1,540 points in the poll while the Bulldogs received 23 first-place votes and 1,518 points. Ohio State, Alabama and Mississippi rounded out the top five.
The last time the Longhorns were at the top of the poll was in the middle of the 2008 season. They later fell from the perch at the hands of the late Mike Leach and Texas Tech in a 39-33 barn-burner in Lubbock. Michael Crabtree caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Graham Harrell with 0:01 left to lift the Red Raiders over the Longhorns.
Tennessee, Missouri, Miami (Fla.), Oregon and Penn State were the next five, making 60% of the top 10 teams from the Southeastern Conference.
There wasn’t a ton of movement in the poll with Miami moving up two spots and Penn State down two. Northern Illinois also moved up two spots to No. 23. Texas A&M moved back into the poll at No. 25 with a 33-20 win over Florida.
Texas is behind Georgia at No. 2 in the USA Today coaches poll.
Texas (3-0) faces Louisiana-Monroe in its final nonconference game at 7 p.m. Saturday, and they’ll likely do so with Arch Manning taking the snaps as Quinn Ewers recovers from an abdominal strain he suffered against UTSA.