Texas Football: Urban Meyer has Longhorns as No. 1 CFP team

No. 3 Texas football has high expectations heading into Big 12 play this week on the road in Waco against the Baylor Bears and head coach Dave Aranda. Head coach Steve Sarkisian’s squad is widely considered the favorite to win the Big 12 this year.

Sark and the Longhorns are also receiving College Football Playoff hype after finishing non-conference play undefeated with a double-digit win on the road over the No. 3 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.

One notable voice around the college football media landscape has sky-high expectations for the Longhorns this season. The former Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators three-time National Championship-winning head coach and FOX college football media personality Urban Meyer believes the Longhorns are the best team in the country this fall.

Urban Meyer has Texas football as his No. 1 team in college football

During Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” on Sep. 23, Meyer named the Longhorns as his No. 1 team in his top four for the College Football Playoff. He also included the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs, a tie at No. 3 between the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes, and No. 4 Florida State Seminoles.

Urban still thinks the Longhorns have the best roster in the nation when he cites why each of these five teams is at the top in college football (transcript from On3).

"“The criteria I used for this is very simple: What is your body of work? Two of them had the best wins in college football, and the second is the roster. [My No. 1 is] Texas. Texas has the best roster in the country and has the best win by far in Tuscaloosa."

Meyer was high on Texas since the spring

It is nothing new for Urban to be high on this Texas team in 2023. In the spring, Meyer claimed the Longhorns have the “best roster in college football”. He hasn’t changed his tune much since then, putting Texas as his top team in the country heading into Week 4.

"“I was talking to Mark Pantoni and I was talking to the recruiting director at Ohio State. Man for man, roster against roster, it’s hard to say Texas doesn’t have the best roster in college football.”"

Despite having two slow starts in non-conference wins at home over the Rice Owls and Wyoming Cowboys, Texas responded well and came up with three double-digit wins to enter Big 12 play with a mark of 3-0 (0-0 Big 12). Texas is also ranked in the top three in the AP Poll for the first time since the 2009 season.

Texas faces a 1-2 (0-0 Big 12) Baylor squad with losses to the Texas State Bobcats and No. 12 Utah Utes during the non-con. The Longhorns and Bears kick off at McLane Stadium in Waco at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC on Sep. 23.