Texas Football: Where way too early 2019 top 25 rankings put Longhorns

Where the Longhorns finished 2018

After the devastating loss to the Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 Championship Game on Dec. 1, Texas football did exactly what it needed to prove that it was in fact worthy of a top 10 ranking to finish the 2018 campaign. Oklahoma found its way into the four-team College Football Playoff field by way of winning that Big 12 Title Game.

With the Allstate Sugar Bowl victory over the Georgia Bulldogs, the Horns wrapped up its first double-digit win season since the 2009 campaign. The downfall that happened at the end of the Mack Brown-era doesn’t seem like it happened all that long ago. But, this magical 2018 campaign from head Texas football coach Tom Herman makes that feel a little bit more distance in the fan’s minds now.

What the convincing Sugar Bowl victory did for the Horns was seal up a sort of national respect for the program that hadn’t been present since the end of the 2009 season. All started to fall apart during the 2010 season, and sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger helped to patch that all back up this season with a New Year’s Six Bowl win.

All in all, the Horns find themselves with a final record of 10-4 (7-3 Big 12) to end the 2018 season. The four losses weren’t all that impressive, but some of the wins were massive. The marquee victories for the Horns came over the Iowa State Cyclones, Georgia, and Oklahoma. Meanwhile, the four losses were at the hands of the Maryland Terrapins, Oklahoma State Cowboys, West Virginia Mountaineers, and the Sooners in the Big 12 Title Game.