3 recent Texas football teams that lived up to the preseason hype

2018 (10-4, 7-2 Big 12)

Preseason ranking: 23

AP Final: 9

Led by then-starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger, the Longhorns emerged as a top Big 12 title contender during the 2018 season, which was also Herman's second year as Texas's head coach. Herman was able to build on his first year at Texas with a host of returning starters on both sides of the ball and a good leader at quarterback with Ehlinger in 2018.

The 2018 season got off to a very forgettable start when the Longhorns were upset for a second straight opener after what happened in 2017 against the Maryland Terrapins. But Texas shook off that upsetting season-opener result in the loss to Maryland with six straight wins to build momentum early in conference play.

Texas defeated three top-25 ranked teams during its impressive six-game winning streak, including two of those ranked wins coming by double-digit margins. One of those wins was a very memorable 48-45 win over No. 7 Oklahoma in Red River, thanks to a game-winning Cameron Dicker field goal late in the fourth quarter.

While the Longhorns did suffer two key setbacks in close clutch-time losses by small margins against the Oklahoma State Cowboys and No. 12 West Virginia Mountaineers in the middle of Big 12 play, it did still recover by the end of the season. Texas made it to the Big 12 Championship Game and got a shot to face the No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl.

Ehlinger and the Longhorns showed they could hang with any opponent when they upset Georgia and head coach Kirby Smart 28-21 in the Sugar Bowl. Texas's win over Georgia helped them reach double-digit wins for the first time in nearly a decade and get them to their first top-10 finish since 2009.