Texas Enters AP Poll at 11; First Time Ranked Since 2013
Texas fans called it the greatest game at DKR of all-time. The writers who vote in the Associated Press Top 25 poll thought it was enough of a showing to propel an unranked Texas to No. 11 in the country, the first time Texas has been ranked under head coach Charlie Strong. Even with Texas on the verge of leapfrogging his Horned Frogs in the AP Poll, TCU coach Gary Patterson was glad to see Texas beat Notre Dame 50-47 on Sunday night.
“It’s good to see Texas play the way they did,” Patterson said on Monday. “Obviously it helps the conference, it helps all of us.”
Of course, Patterson is no Texas fan. The two teams will square off the Friday after Thanksgiving in Austin, and his squad is 3-1 against the Longhorns since joining the Big 12 in 2012. As Patterson mentioned in regards to expansion and a conference championship game at Big 12 Football Media Days in July, anything that gets the Big 12 in the College Football Playoff is alright by him.
So when Patterson sees—if he hasn’t already—that Texas sits just outside the AP top 10, four spots above TCU, he’ll likely be happier than most outside Longhorn Nation, considering TCU and Baylor both missed the CFP in 2014.
Texas’ ranking both re-solidifies the normal powerhouse’s national reputation after a two-year lull in which the Longhorns have gone 11-14, and also helps make the case—early as it is—for a reinvigorated Big 12. In addition to these two teams, Oklahoma, Baylor, and Oklahoma State make five Big 12 teams in the top 25.
Even though Texas is the highest ranked member of the Big 12 after week one, it’s still not the highest ranked team in the state. That would be the University of Houston, long rumored to be a future expansion partner for the Big 12, sitting pretty at No. 6.
