{"id":434715,"date":"2026-09-13T12:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T12:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/434715\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T12:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T12:36:10","slug":"texas-college-football-rankings-longhorns-no-1-in-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/434715\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas college football rankings: Longhorns No. 1 in the state"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"Head coach Steve Sarkisian of the Texas Longhorns celebrates with the team after a win against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 12, 2026 in Austin, Texas.\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Head coach Steve Sarkisian of the Texas Longhorns celebrates with the team after a win against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 12, 2026 in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Slitz\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The Texas\u00a0 Longhorns had perhaps the best rally in school history with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/college\/longhorns\/article\/texas-football-ohio-state-comeback-22385141.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">21 fourth-quarter points to beat Ohio State<\/a>, the nation&#8217;s No. 1 team. That&#8217;s enough to keep the Longhorns No. 1 in the state, and maybe even jump them to that spot in the nation.<\/p>\n<p>The Chronicle\u2019s for the 13 FBS teams in Texas:<\/p>\n<p>1. Texas (2-0) | Last week: 1<\/p>\n<p>OK, so the Longhorns <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/college\/longhorns\/article\/steve-sarkisian-decisions-calls-ohio-state-22428420.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">proved they could beat Ohio State<\/a> after two tough losses the last two seasons. Now, for the big question: can they beat Florida? Regardless, the win over the Buckeyes was a good first step to the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>2. Texas A&amp;M (2-0) | Last week: 2<\/p>\n<p>Last week Mike Elko said A&amp;M quarterback Marcel Reed needed more appreciation. Maybe this week <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/college\/aggies\/article\/tamu-football-arizona-state-score-22428411.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">he&#8217;ll talk about his defense<\/a> after it came up big to beat Arizona State.<\/p>\n<p>3. Houston (2-0) | Last week: 4<\/p>\n<p>When Don Meredith would sing &#8220;turn out the lights, the party&#8217;s over,&#8221; he was usually referring to one team&#8217;s good fortune coming to an end. For UH, when the lights went out against Southern, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/college\/cougars\/article\/uh-football-southern-score-recap-22428425.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">the party was just getting started<\/a>. A bigger test awaits on Friday in Lubbock against Texas Tech.<\/p>\n<p>3. Texas Tech (2-0) | Last week: 3<\/p>\n<p>The Red Raiders are still passing it in the fourth quarter, the problem is they aren&#8217;t up 40-0 as Cody Campbell said with a bit of bravado before the season.\u00a0 Last week it was to put away pesky Abilene Christian. This week it was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/article\/hammond-throws-the-go-ahead-touchdown-and-no-13-22429472.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">to rally past Oregon State<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>5. SMU (2-0) | Last week: 5<\/p>\n<p>There was no power delay for the Mustangs this week, although the heat in Dallas forced two 12-minute quarters as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/article\/jennings-tosses-5-tds-as-no-17-smu-routs-uc-22429222.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Kevin Jennings passed for five touchdowns<\/a> to beat UC-Davis.<\/p>\n<p>6. UTSA (2-0) | Last week: 7<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/article\/brandon-high-jr-scores-go-ahead-td-with-14-22429273.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">UTSA got the 100th win<\/a> in program history. That it came over rival Texas State was even better. UTSA will go for No. 101 against the Longhorns in Austin.<\/p>\n<p>7. North Texas (1-1) | Last week: 9<\/p>\n<p>After playing tough against defending national champion Indiana in its opener, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/article\/jackson-white-lead-north-texas-to-commanding-22429249.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">North Texas had a commanding 44-6 win over UNLV, <\/a>a team some\u00a0 thought was a playoff contender from the Group of Six. Maybe it&#8217;s North Texas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>8. Baylor (1-1) | Last week: 8<\/p>\n<p>With DJ Lagway out with an ankle injury, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/article\/bennett-totals-3-tds-in-baylor-s-44-3-win-over-22429483.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Nate Bennett threw two TD passes and ran for another<\/a> in a 44-3 win over Prairie View.<\/p>\n<p>9. TCU (1-1) | Last week: 13<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/article\/jaden-craig-leads-tcu-to-bounceback-win-over-22429474.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">A 63-7 win over Grambling <\/a>was the perfect cure for any jet lag left from opening trip to Dublin. And the Frogs even let the Fort Worth Star-Telegram cover the game.<\/p>\n<p>10. Texas State (0-2) | Last week: 10<\/p>\n<p>The Bobcats need to get off I-35. Last week it was a 59-7 loss to the Longhorns in Austin. This week, a 31-26 loss to UTSA at home. Next week is North Texas, which happens to be where I-35E and\u00a0 I-35W meet in Denton.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>11. Rice (1-1) | Last week: 6<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/college\/article\/rice-notre-dame-football-score-22429165.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">The Owls fell at Notre Dame, 52-0<\/a>, in their worst loss since a 58-0 decision to Texas in 2021. &#8220;Do I think they are 50 points better than us?&#8221; Rice coach Scott Abell asked. &#8220;Absolutely not. Do I think they are one of best teams in the country? Yes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>12. UTEP (1-1) | Last week: 12<\/p>\n<p>The Miners didnt&#8217; have any trouble with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/college\/article\/texas-southern-utep-football-22429560.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Texas Southern in a 51-10 win<\/a>. A trip to Michigan this week will be a bit tougher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>13. Sam Houston (0-2) | Last week: 11<\/p>\n<p>Sam Houston was back at Bowers Stadium for the first time since 2024 and enjoyed a 14-10 lead at halftime over Tulsa.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/article\/tulsa-uses-big-plays-from-jones-lawyer-to-rally-22429490.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">But the Bearkats couldn&#8217;t hold on.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Head coach Steve Sarkisian of the Texas Longhorns celebrates with the team after a win against the Ohio&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-434715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}