Where Texas ranks in preseason AP Poll predictions

After Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian ranked fourth in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll, the final remaining major preseason poll will be released on Aug. 12. Sarkisian and Texas are all but guaranteed to be ranked in the preseason AP Poll for the second year in a row when it releases on Monday.

Can Steve Sarkisian and Texas football live up to the top-five ranking hype from the major preseason polls in the 2024 season?

Last year, Texas ranked 11th in the preseason AP Poll. Texas is likely going to continue building on its third-place finish in the final AP Poll of the 2023 college football season, at least if the fourth-place spot in the preseason Coaches Poll is any foreshadowing for the Longhorns for the upcoming regular season in the SEC.

Texas has momentum entering its inaugural season in the SEC this fall. The Longhorns were picked to finish second in the SEC standings by the media at SEC Media Days last month. Last season, the Longhorns won the Big 12 Championship in their final year playing in the conference and made the College Football Playoff.

Sarkisian's squad also received a first-place vote in the preseason Coaches Poll for the first time since 2009.

Where is the media projecting the Longhorns to be ranked in the first AP Poll heading into the 2024 college football regular season?

Early projections of the preseason AP Poll has Texas actually getting ranked higher than it was in the preseason Coaches Poll a couple of weeks ago. Predictions for the 2024 preseason AP Poll from 247Sports and Sports Illustrated have Texas being ranked No. 3.

Bleacher Report, meanwhile, has the Longhorns in the same spot for the preseason AP Poll as the Coaches Poll at No. 4.

However, in all three preseason AP Poll predictions, the top two remain the same, with the Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 2 and the Georgia Bulldogs as the top pick at No. 1. The Oregon Ducks rank ahead of the Longhorns in the third spot, according to Bleacher Report.

Sarkisian and the Longhorns face four of the teams that were projected to be ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 in the inaugural regular season playing in the SEC this fall, including Michigan, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Georgia.

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