Texas Football: No. 19 spot on for Longhorns in Coaches Poll
The awaited release of the USA Today Coaches Poll came out on Aug. 10, with the Texas football program present in the top 25. New head coach Steve Sarkisian saw his squad ranked at No. 19 in the preseason release of the 2021 Coaches Poll.
Texas was one of four schools from the Big 12 in the top 25 of the Coaches Poll for this preseason. The other three were the Oklahoma Sooners (No. 3), Iowa State Cyclones (No. 8), and the Oklahoma State Cowboys (No. 22). As anticipated, the Longhorns were the third highest ranked team from the Big 12 in one of the major preseason polls.
There were only two other Big 12 teams that got votes outside of the top 25 in this preseason Coaches Poll. Those were the TCU Horned Frogs (53 votes) and West Virginia Mountaineers (four votes).
Moreover, Oklahoma was the lone Big 12 program to get votes for No. 1 in the Coaches Poll. Although Oklahoma ranked at No. 3 in the Coaches Poll, it was the only other program to get votes for the No. 1 slot other than the team that topped the rankings. The Alabama Crimson Tide got 63 first place votes and got the overall top slot, and Oklahoma had two first place votes.
Texas football in the right spot in the preseason Coaches Poll
Texas got 427 points in this voting of the preseason Coaches Poll, just four more than the No. 20 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. The gap was a little over 100 points between Texas and the No. 18 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes.
Of the three opponents on the non-conference slate for Texas, one is ranked in the top 25 and one got votes outside of the top 25. The Louisiana Ragin-Cajuns are the regular season opener for the Longhorns, and rang in at No. 24 in the Coaches Poll. Meanwhile, the Arkansas Razorbacks are the second opponent on tap for Texas this fall, and got votes outside of the top 25.
Given the teams ranked around the Longhorns in the Coaches Poll, the No. 19 slot seems about right. That is about the slot where most figured Texas would be in the major preseason polls.
Texas also finished up at No. 19 last season in the final AP Poll. The final Coaches Poll last season had Texas ranked at No. 20.
You can view the entirety of the USA Today preseason Coaches Poll, thanks to ESPN here.
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Texas will open up the regular season on Sep. 4 against Louisiana at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Sark and the Longhorns will be looking to improve upon the 7-3 (5-3 Big 12) record that the team posted last season under former head coach Tom Herman.