Texas football snubbed from preseason AP Top 25 Poll

Late in the morning of Aug. 15, the preseason AP Poll was released, and the Texas football program was not included in the top 25. After getting the No. 18 slot in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll earlier this month (including a very surprising first-place vote), Texas rang in at No. 27 in terms of the votes for the preseason AP Poll.

You can view the entire preseason AP Poll, thanks to ESPN here.

This is quite the preseason poll spread for head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns between the AP Poll and Coaches Poll. Texas nearly got a difference of 10 positions between the two major preseason polls this year.

Moreover, this is also the first time since 2016 that Texas was unranked in the preseason AP Poll. In every single season under former head coach Charlie Strong, the Longhorns were unranked in the preseason AP Poll.

Steve Sarkisian’s uphill battle with Texas football in 2022 highlighted by snub from preseason AP Poll

Texas was also unranked under former head coach Mack Brown, heading into the 2011 season. All four of the seasons since 2010 where Texas was unranked in the preseason AP Poll, they also finished each campaign outside of the top 25.

The last time that Texas started a season unranked in the AP Poll, but finished in the top 25, was under Brown during the 1998 campaign. Texas finished up the 1998 season with the 15th spot in the AP Poll, after sporting a record of 9-3 (6-2 Big 12).

Moreover, you have to wonder if some of the recent injury news impacted the Longhorns in the AP Poll voting. Granted, that would imply that the voters knew about these injuries when the AP Poll voting occurred this offseason.

No matter how you spin it, though, Sark and the Longhorns have an uphill battle heading into the 2022 season. Texas is now down redshirt sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Neyor and senior interior offensive lineman Junior Angilau for the entire 2022 season. And Texas is also likely going to be missing senior running back Roschon Johnson and junior defensive lineman/edge rusher Alfred Collins for the first few games of the regular season.

Texas finished up last season with a record of 5-7 (3-6 Big 12), missing out on bowl season for the first time since 2016. Sark and the Longhorns will open up the 2022 regular season at home on Sep. 3 against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.