Texas football opens 2020 at No. 14 in AP preseason top 25
AUSTIN, Texas — The Associated Press released its preseason top 25 poll Monday, with the Texas Longhorns claiming the No. 14 spot.
The Longhorns appear in the AP’s preseason rankings for the second consecutive year, after opening the 2019 campaign in the No. 10 slot. The AP has ranked UT at some point in each of head coach Tom Herman’s three seasons in Austin.
The Longhorns lost their premier out-of-conference game when the Southeastern Conference opted to have its teams play only teams within the conference, thereby scrapping the LSU-Texas game.
The No. 14 ranking is conservative, since four of the teams ranked ahead of Texas — Ohio State (Big Ten), Penn State (Big Ten), Oregon (Pac-12) and Wisconsin (Big Ten) — play in conferences that will not play in the fall after their conferences announced they will cancel or postpone the 2020 season.
But at least according to the preseason AP poll, that was not going to be UT’s highest-ranked opponent in 2020. Oklahoma leads four Big 12 teams in the AP preseason rankings, at No. 5. One spot behind Texas, Oklahoma State comes in at No. 15, while Iowa State grabbed the No. 23 spot. Baylor and TCU are among 21 teams also receiving votes.
Texas has won 25 games in Herman’s first three seasons at UT, and has gone 3-0 in bowl games during his tenure.
Associated Press preseason top 25
1. Clemson (38)
2. Ohio State (21)
3. Alabama (2)
4. Georgia
5. Oklahoma
6. LSU (1)
7. Penn State
8. Florida
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Auburn
12. Wisconsin
13. Texas A&M
14. Texas
15. Oklahoma State
16. Michigan
17. USC
18. North Carolina
19. Minnesota
20. Cincinnati
21. UCF
22. Utah
23. Iowa State
24. Iowa
25. Tennessee
Others receiving votes: Memphis (86), Virginia Tech (85), Boise State (68), Arizona State (66), Miami—Fla. (42), Louisville (32), Appalachian State (26), Washington (21), Kentucky (20), Indiana (19), Baylor (15), California (11), TCU (9), Virginia (7), Navy (6), Florida State (6), SMU (3), Mississippi State (3), Air Force (3), Northwestern (1), UAB (1)
