Texas Football: Longhorns bounced from both polls following loss to ISU

Texas football head coach Tom Herman got the result that was exactly one he didn’t need at this point of the season, on Black Friday to Iowa State.

As anticipated following their really difficult last second loss to head coach Matt Campbell and the No. 13 ranked Iowa State Cyclones on Senior Day back on Black Friday at home (specifically Nov. 27), No. 17 ranked Texas football got bounced from both major polls. Texas held the No. 17 ranking in the initial release of the College Football Playoff Rankings last week, but was much lower in the AP Poll and Coaches Poll.

Fourth-year head coach Tom Herman saw his Longhorns team bounced from both major polls heading into Week 14 of the 2020 college football season. In this week’s version of the AP Poll, the Longhorns got 39 votes, essentially good enough to place them at No. 28 on the outside looking in. The two teams that were outside of the top 25 in the AP Poll this week but got more votes than the Longhorns were the North Carolina Tar Heels (65) and the Buffalo Bulls (56).

While the Longhorns were also bounced from this week’s version of the Coaches Poll, they were in a lower spot on the outside looking in than in the AP Poll. Texas did get one more vote in the Coaches Poll this week than the AP Poll, but just by one. That still was not enough to keep them even in the top 28 (ringing in at No. 29 in the Coaches Poll with 40 votes).

Texas was behind the Auburn Tigers (75), UNC (68), and Mizzou Tigers (43), in this week’s version of the Coaches Poll.

You can view the entirety of both major polls this week, thanks to ESPN here.

After falling short to Iowa State heading into the post-Thanksgiving weekend, Texas moves to a record of 5-3 (4-3 Big 12), with their chances at getting a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game all but shot at this point. The loss to Iowa State snapped a three-game Longhorns winning streak, and all but ensured a rematch between the Cyclones and Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 Championship Game come Dec. 19.

It will be interesting to see if the Longhorns stick around in this week’s version of the College Football Playoff Rankings, but it’s not too likely. The bigger point here is what will happen in the immediate future for the likes of Herman and the rest of this coaching staff.

Next up for Herman and the Longhorns is a road trip to Manhattan to face head coach Chris Klieman and the usually stingy Kansas State Wildcats on Dec. 5. Kansas State is coming off a tough last minute loss to the Baylor Bears on Nov. 28.