Texas is No. 1 in preseason AP Top
25 for first time, edging Penn St, Ohio St; 10 SEC teams ranked
[August 12, 2025]
By ERIC OLSON
For the first time, Texas will open a college football season ranked
No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25.
The Longhorns hardly have a mandate in the poll released Monday:
They edged out Penn State by just five points in the closest
preseason vote since 1998.
Texas received 25 first-place votes and 1,552 points to give the
Southeastern Conference the preseason No. 1 team for a record fifth
straight year. The Nittany Lions got 23 first-place votes and 1,547
points for their highest preseason ranking since they were No. 1 to
open the 1997 season.
The Longhorns face a major test right away. Their Aug. 30 opener at
defending champion and third-ranked Ohio State is a rematch of last
season’s College Football Playoff semifinal, a 28-14 Buckeyes win in
the Cotton Bowl.
The Buckeyes received 11 first-place votes from the panel of 65
media members who cover college football. No. 4 Clemson got four
first-place votes and No. 5 Georgia got one.
Notre Dame, Oregon (which got the final first-place vote), Alabama,
LSU and Miami round out the top 10.
The SEC leads all conferences with 10 teams in the preseason Top 25,
most ever by a conference and one more than a year ago. The SEC has
four teams in the top 10 for the second straight year.
The Big Ten, which has won the last two national championships, has
two of the top three teams in the poll for the third straight year
and six in the Top 25 for the third year in a row.
Four Big 12 teams are ranked, with defending conference champion
Arizona State the highest at No. 11. The Atlantic Coast Conference
has three, led by Clemson.
Top-ranked Texas
“Arch Mania” is at a fever pitch in Texas with Arch Manning now the
undisputed starting quarterback.
The Longhorns have been on an upward trajectory since they were 5-7
in 2021, Steve Sarkisian’s first season. They have won 25 of their
last 30 games and reached two straight CFP semifinals. Last year,
they were ranked No. 1 four of five weeks from mid-September to
mid-October, and they reached the SEC championship game in their
first season in the conference.
“But this is a new year, new faces, new team, and obviously
expectations are high for our program,” Sarkisian said at SEC media
days. “I’m not naive to that. I don’t put my head in the sand, and
expectations are very high. But I also say we’re the University of
Texas, and the standard is the standard here, and that’s competing
for championships year in and year out.”
Twelve Texas players were taken in the NFL draft, including
three-first-round picks, but elite recruiting and additions from the
transfer portal should alleviate concerns about losses on the
offensive line and at receiver. The defense brings back plenty of
talent.
Still, Texas received just 38.5% of the first-place votes (25 of
65), the smallest share for a No. 1 team in the preseason poll since
Georgia got 33.9% (22 of 65) in 2008.
The Longhorns have ended a season No. 1 in the AP poll three times
(1963, 1969, 2005) but until now had never started a season higher
than No. 2 (1962, 1965, 1970, 2005, 2009).
[to top of second column] |
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart argues with an official during the
second half of an NCAA college football game in Austin, Texas,
Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez, File)
Big Ten lurking
The second-ranked Nittany Lions are not only six points from being
No. 1, they are 75 points ahead of the Buckeyes in what might be
considered a slight to the national champs.
Penn State will have Drew Allar back under center for what many
consider a light schedule ahead of a late September visit from
Oregon before a Nov. 1 showdown at Ohio State.
The Buckeyes, in the preseason top five for the ninth straight year
and 12th of the last 13, will have a new look with only five
starters back on offense and three on defense.
“This team has its own identity,” coach Ryan Day said. “It wants to
have its own identity, but it also wants to be the first Ohio State
team to win back-to-back national championships.”
The opener against Texas will give the Buckeyes a good measure of
themselves. Julian Sayin or Lincoln Kienholz will be the third new
starting quarterback in three years. Whoever gets the job will throw
to one of the nation’s top players in Jeremiah Smith.
Day will also have another chance to figure out archrival and
preseason No. 14 Michigan, which has beaten the Buckeyes four
straight years.
Poll nuggets
— Texas will try to become the 12th team to start and finish No. 1
since the AP preseason poll debuted in 1950. The last team to do it
was Alabama in 2017.
— Notre Dame is in the preseason top 10 for the third time in four
years. The Fighting Irish will have a new quarterback, CJ Carr or
Kenny Minchey. The two played a combined eight snaps last season as
Notre Dame went all the way to the CFP title game won by Ohio State.
— With Boise State at No. 25, all 12 teams in the 2024 College
Football Playoff are ranked in the preseason. The Mountain West’s
Broncos are the first team from a Group of Five conference to crack
the preseason Top 25 since Tulane was No. 24 in 2023.
— No. 16 SMU, which returns quarterback Kevin Jennings from its CFP
team, is in the preseason Top 25 for the first time in 40 years. The
1985 team was No. 3 and finished 6-5 and unranked.
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