A history of Texas not being preseason No. 1 until now, plus all hail Week 0

New York Times

3 days ago

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Today in (actual) college football news, Michigan's Connor Stalions punishment has arrived, two years later: a sizable fine, plus an additional one-game suspension for head coach Sherrone Moore, this one in 2026. Full news story here, and more to come on the site. On to non-NCAA stuff!
Every time I've typed this over the past couple weeks, it's felt surprising all over again: Texas had never been preseason No. 1 in the AP Top 25 or Coaches Poll until now. Texas? Big-money Texas? With all those recruits? And all that media praise I've been told has been reverberating day and night throughout every household in America?
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Several of Until Saturday's many knowledgable and well-dressed readers have also expressed surprise about this factoid, so let's explore it.
The Longhorns have ranked No. 2 in five preseasons, most recently 2005 (when they would win the national title) and 2009 (when they would pretty nearly do so again). They've also started out at No. 3 four times, most recently 2006 (a 10-3 season). Their last top-five preseason ranking before last year was the No. 5 spot in 2010. More on that in a sec.
Overall, Texas has appeared in the preseason top five quite a lot: 26 times, counting this season, which ranks behind Oklahoma's 37 times, Ohio State's 34 and Alabama's 33. (As for how many times each has finished in the AP top five: Oklahoma 33, Ohio State 31, Alabama 30 and Texas 22, plus whatever the Buckeyes and Longhorns do this season. All pretty close to expectations. Weirdly symmetrical, actually.)
Still, based on the memes, you'd think the Horns eat s— every single time anyone believes in them. Well, here's the thing: That happens at least once or twice a year to pretty much everybody in college football. It's college football.
Despite the overly eager hype moments like 2016's 'TEXAS IS BACK' (an all-time great call, to be clear), the Horns have usually been about as fairly appraised as anybody. Texas schadenfreude is special, but it doesn't prove Texas is especially prone to being overrated. Yes, it feels extra fun to be typing this as we head into a season in which Texas is both No. 1 and slightly likely to lose a game right away. Tomorrow comes.
(Since about 10,000 of you are now saying out loud to your phones in public that Notre Dame is the actual most overrated team every offseason: The Irish have started in the AP top five 19 times, then finished there 26 times. At some point, it would be fun to list out every derogatory/complimentary Fighting Irish trope that is actually backward.)
(Also, this stat kinda shocked me even though I stare at this stuff all the time: Texas A&M's number of top-five finishes is just … four? Like, I would've been able to name all four, then would've assumed I was missing a bunch.)
🔥 Gotta be honest: I get even more excited to read Bruce Feldman's preseason hot-seat report than I do to read his Freaks List. Not sure what that says about me. That's not true. I know exactly what it says. This edition ranges from 'tepid, but worth keeping an eye on' for Brian Kelly to 'steamy' for Trent Dilfer.
👀 College football's 25 most interesting people in 2025, and Bill Belichick is not No. 1.
🐺 'New Mexico football has added 129 new players over the past two years after back-to-back coaching changes.' And then the school's more dependable revenue sport got hit hard too. Brutal details.
🏆 The Athletic's Preseason All-America Team, where Clemson, Georgia and Ohio State lead with four players each.
📈 COACH TIERS: Every (non-rookie) FBS head coach, ranked anew by Chris Vannini. His two toughest to rank: Ryan Day and Sherrone Moore. Those two should get together in November and work this out.
📱 Right after we sent Tuesday's edition, Oklahoma QB John Mateer said his old Venmo descriptions that referenced sports gambling were just 'inside jokes.' I am fine with believing him, and would also be fine with a theoretical scenario in which an athlete did bet on sports, then posted about them strictly for the lmaos. I am definitely not saying I should be in charge of enforcing rules.
One of my favorite things to look back on each season: Which preseason-ranked team embarrassed itself the most? For a while, I kept an annual list of those teams. And which team made the biggest rise from nowhere? I kept that list too. (Auburn, forever college football's riddle-posing bridge troll, starred on both lists.)
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If you'd like some help spotting this year's Indiana, Neil Paine looked at eight statistical factors that can typically herald CFP contenders among the unranked masses.
A few days before reading this, I picked Iowa to make the playoff this year (more on that next week), and now I feel even better about that. The Hawkeyes rank fifth overall in Neil's combined projection, behind USC, Louisville, Auburn (which should always appear on every 'possibly overrated and/or underrated' list) and Virginia Tech.
Full explanations of each piece of the formula are here, plus 10 more teams that follow those five. Over to Stewart Mandel, and then I'll see you in … Week 0. We made it.
No. 17 Kansas State vs. No. 22 Iowa State in Dublin is the first Week 0 game between ranked opponents since 2000. Yet it doesn't feel like there has been much national attention on that game, with previews already looking ahead to Week 1 games like Texas at Ohio State. Is there a reason that game is under-the-radar nationally? — Aaron M.
We didn't call it Week 0 back then, but you're bringing back some great memories of those high-profile Kickoff/Pigskin/Eddie Robinson Classics.
The last 'big' Week 0 game I remember was in 2004, No. 1 USC vs. Virginia Tech in Washington, D.C., when Reggie Bush caught three touchdown passes. Those games all went kaput the next year when the NCAA went to a permanent 12-game schedule, and Week 0 did not return until Cal-Hawaii in Australia in 2016, which helps explain the long drought.
To be blunt, the reason it's flying under the radar is because it's not a Big Ten or SEC game. K-State and Iowa State are good programs, but they are not big national brands. Outside of Colorado, there aren't any in the Big 12 right now. I know in my head I've been thinking ahead to No. 1 Texas vs. No. 3 Ohio State myself. But come kickoff on Aug. 23, I'd imagine most college football fans will come to the realization that, wow, there's a really good game on today.
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In fact, I could have easily seen myself picking this to be the Big 12 championship matchup, but it's tough to see that happening when one of the two is already going to be 0-1 in league play. The loser basically has no margin for error the rest of the way, especially if the two schools end up in a tiebreaker situation.
And if you're a CFP aspirant from the Big 12, you'd better win your conference. So needless to say, this is not Northwestern-Nebraska. Iowa State-K-State is legit high stakes. Tune in.
More Mandel mailbag here.
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