Texas Longhorns enter AP Top 25 after near-upset of Alabama
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Despite losing, the Texas Longhorns moved into the Associated Press College Football Top 25 Rankings for the first time this year.
The Longhorns jumped to the No. 21 spot in the poll, released Sunday. They were previously two spots outside of the poll after the first week of the season, but their performance in a 20-19 loss to Alabama was more than enough to convince voters to put them in the Top 25.
The Longhorns are believed to be the first team to lose and still enter the AP Top 25 since Missouri did it in 1997.
Texas' performance also made voters believe the Crimson Tide isn't the best team in the country, at least for now. Alabama fell a spot to No. 2 after the win, which in the AP poll era, is fairly common. Since the poll began in 1936, the No. 1 team has won and dropped in the poll 91 times.
The media panel moved defending national champion Georgia to the top spot after the Bulldogs beat Samford 33-0.
MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newsletters
The Bulldogs, which opened the season by beating Oregon 49-3, received 53 of 63 first-place votes from the media panel. No. 2 Alabama received nine first-place votes and No. 3 Ohio State got one first-place vote.
Texas A&M nearly fell completely out of the rankings following a 17-14 loss to unranked Appalachian State at Kyle Field. The Aggies dropped to No. 24 in the poll after entering the game at No. 6. It also potentially cost them the chance of having ESPN College GameDay come to College Station when the Aggies host No. 13 Miami next week. ESPN made the choice to go to Appalachian State for its matchup against Troy on Sept. 17.
Houston dropped out of the poll after losing 33-30 in double overtime to Texas Tech and Baylor tumbled from No. 9 to No. 17 after a double-overtime 26-20 loss to Brigham Young.
No. 4 Michigan and No. 5 Clemson held their places, but the rest of the top 10 was shuffled.
Oklahoma moved up a spot to No. 6. Southern California jumped three places to No. 7, its best ranking since September 2017.
The rest of the top 10 are new arrivals: No. 8 Oklahoma State moved up three spots. No. 9 Kentucky jumped 11 places for its best ranking since it reached No. 8 in October 2007. And No. 10 Arkansas was up six.
Notre Dame, ranked No. 8 heading into the weekend, was left out of the poll altogether following a 26-21 to unranked Marshall at Notre Dame Stadium. The Fighting Irish is unranked for the first time since Sept. 17, 2017, snapping a streak of 80 straight poll appearances, which was fourth in the country behind Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia among active runs.