Texas reached the top of the polls in the most chaotic way possible, surviving an instant-classic 24-23 win over Ohio State in Week 2. The Longhorns got there by flipping a game that looked lost for most of the afternoon, and that kind of finish changes everything about how the rest of the season will feel.
For a while, this program had been carrying the weight of unmet expectations. In 2025, Arch Manning never really looked generational until the moment it was almost too late.
Steve Sarkisian’s offense spent that season without a real running game. Then Florida went into the “Swamp” and knocked UT to 3-2 by the first weekend of October.
The start of 2026 threatened to turn into another gut punch. For 43 minutes in Week 2, Ohio State had Texas out of sorts.
Then Manning hit Emaree Winston on 4th-and-9, and everything shifted. From there, the Longhorns finished strong over the final 17 minutes and pulled off the kind of comeback that not only beats the former No. 1, but takes its crown too.
Now comes the harder part: living with the target.
Texas gets a short breather this weekend against UTSA. The Roadrunners just allowed 481 total yards and 289 rushing yards to Texas State last Saturday in San Marcos, so a hangover would have to be severe for this one to stay close.
After that, the schedule tightens fast. Tennessee is up on September 26, and the Vols just hung 45 on Georgia Tech.
A bye week follows, then the Red River Rivalry arrives with Oklahoma already carrying a loss. Beating the No. 1 team could become a season-saver for the Sooners; losing would leave them scrambling in mid-October.
That pressure won’t stop with Oklahoma. Every SEC opponent on Texas’ October slate will have more incentive now, and the Longhorns are headed into that stretch as the team everyone wants to take down. Florida and Ole Miss will have already met by the time they reach the Forty Acres, and Mississippi State’s situation by then is anyone’s guess.
November could bring another layer of trouble. Missouri, LSU and Texas A&M all look like potential problems if Texas is still sitting at No. 1.
What Ohio State showed before the comeback also gave future opponents a blueprint to chase. The Buckeyes attacked weak zone coverage and forced turnovers, and ball security stood out as an issue. That’s the kind of film every SEC staff will study.
Being No. 1 is a great title, but it also comes with the loudest spotlight. If Texas had lost to Ohio State, the Longhorns would be viewed differently, more like a low-seeded CFP contender. Instead, they passed the biggest test on the board and moved into the highest tier.
The flip side is obvious. From here on out, every loss will hit harder. If the Texas-Tennessee game ends up as ESPN’s College GameDay selection, then a Week 4 stumble would only crank up the anxiety.
Texas has the top ranking now, and that changes the temperature around every game left on the schedule. It’s a blessing, sure. But if the loss column changes, the pressure is going to climb fast.
In Other News...
Texas Just Delivered The Kind Of Win That Changes Everything
A September showdown with Ohio State ended up looking like the kind of early-season measuring stick Texas has spent years chasing, and it came with a comeback that instantly put the Longhorns in the center of the national conversation. The victory also carried the sort of reach that only high-end marquee games can produce, with television numbers that reflected just how many people wanted to see these teams meet.
The backdrop matters because this was not just a one-off upset or a tidy nonconference win. Several college football and program records fell along the way, giving Texas a result that resonated well beyond the final score and hinted at how quickly the mood around the season can change when a game of this size breaks the right way. [Read more 🡒]
Jeff Traylor Keeps Producing Talent Texas Fans Know All Too Well
Jeff Traylor has built UTSA into one of the Group of Sixs more reliable talent factories, and that reputation keeps resonating far beyond San Antonio. The Roadrunners have watched plenty of players move on through the transfer portal to Power Four programs, a sign that Traylor and his staff have become adept at spotting and developing prospects before bigger schools come calling.
Trey Moore is one of the clearest examples of that pipeline at work. He arrived at UTSA as an unheralded prospect, grew into a productive player under Traylor, and then kept climbing from there, eventually landing at Texas before continuing his rise to the next level. For Longhorn fans, it is another reminder that Traylor has a knack for identifying talent that can travel well once it leaves his program. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Is Chasing College Footballs Elite With A Price Tag Few Can Match
College footballs financial arms race keeps getting louder, and a new Athletic report on roster spending puts the sports biggest players into sharper focus. The survey identifies 11 programs spending around $40 million or more annually, with Ohio State out front and Oregon close behind, while Texas and LSU sit in that same upper tier of heavy investment. Even in a landscape where some lower-profile programs are working with far smaller budgets, the gap at the top keeps widening.
For Texas, the takeaway is less about a surprise than a reminder of where the Longhorns now live in the sport. The report places them among the teams operating at or near the top of the spending board, in the same conversation as the Buckeyes and Ducks, which helps explain why the stakes around roster building have become so high. The broader question, though, is whether that level of spending can translate into the kind of playoff consistency the biggest checkbooks are clearly chasing. [Read more 🡒]