Texas football cracks top 10 in AP and Coaches Poll after UTEP win

A dominant looking win in the season opener for the Texas football program moved them up significantly in both major polls.

Week 1 of the portion of the college football season that’s cut out for the Texas football program just transpired on Sep. 12. And Texas did not disappoint in their season opener, as they took down the UTEP Miners out of Conference-USA at home under the lights at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium by the final score of 59-3. Texas came into their season opener with the No. 14 ranking in both major preseason polls. But the preseason AP Poll and Coaches Poll included the teams from the two Power Five conferences that aren’t planning on playing the usual fall football season.

The Week 3 version of the major polls for this college football season as a whole did not feature the Big Ten and PAC-12 teams that are not playing their usual fall campaigns. That meant that the Longhorns had a real opportunity to jump into the top 10 for both major polls after knocking off UTEP in their opener. And that’s just what happened.

In the updated Coaches Poll for Week 3, the Longhorns are up to No. 8. And they sit at No. 9 in the latest version of the AP Poll. The main difference between the Longhorns placement in the two polls was the Auburn Tigers. Auburn was ahead of Texas in the AP Poll for Week 3, but not the Coaches Poll.

The 2020 season does not begin for Auburn, or anyone in the SEC for that matter, until Sep. 26., when they host the No. 23 Kentucky Wildcats at home.

Out of the Big 12, the highest ranked team is the Oklahoma Sooners at No. 3. The other teams in the Big 12 in the top 25 are the Oklahoma State Cowboys (Coaches 12, AP 11) and Baylor Bears (Coaches 24, AP unranked). The Kansas State Wildcats and Iowa State Cyclones were both bounced far out of the top 25 for both polls after undergoing pretty big upsets over the weekend.

You can view the major Week 3 polls, thanks to ESPN here.

After taking down the Miners by a whopping 56-point margin last weekend, next up for the Longhorns will be the Texas Tech Red Raiders on the road on Sep. 26 to open up Big 12 play. It looks like all of the Big 12, outside of Oklahoma State and Baylor has a bye week this coming weekend.

Baylor scheduled the Houston Cougars for Sep. 19, after their opener against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs had to be pushed back. Oklahoma State is set to take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in their delayed season opener on Sep. 19 at 11 a.m. CT.