AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Longhorns moved up one spot to No. 4 in the AP Top 25 released Tuesday, the first regular-season poll of the 2026 season, five days before hosting top-ranked Ohio State at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Texas opened the year at No. 5 in the preseason AP poll and drew no first-place votes. Ohio State held No. 1 with 46 of the first-place votes cast by the more than 60 journalists on the AP panel. The other 23 went to six teams.
Oregon fell from No. 2 to No. 6 after a 34-27 win over Boise State as a 25.5-point favorite, which moved Georgia, Notre Dame, Texas, and Indiana up one spot each.
Arch Manning And Texas Open With A 59-7 Win Over Texas State
Saturday afternoon in Austin, Texas beat Texas State 59-7. Arch Manning completed 20-of-27 passes for 305 yards with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception before leaving with 7:55 remaining in the third quarter.
Two touchdown passes went to Cam Coleman, from 6 and 20 yards. Hollywood Smothers caught a 13-yard touchdown and carried 10 times for 70 yards. Ryan Wingo finished with 121 receiving yards. Rasheem Biles intercepted a pass and forced a fumble, and the SEC named him co-defensive player of the week.
Manning put the interception before halftime on himself and said the rest of the night was a good first outing.
“I like that we got a lot of guys involved, it seems like we’ve got a lot of playmakers who kinda do everything,” Manning said.
Manning’s sponsorship deals with Red Bull, Uber, and other brands meant he asked Texas for less in revenue sharing. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said that money went into the roster.
“All of that freed up several million dollars that I can go get a Cam Coleman, go get a Hollywood Smothers and go get a (linebacker) Rasheem Biles,” Sarkisian said.
Texas added 22 transfers this offseason. Coleman, Smothers, and Raleek Brown all scored in the opener.
Texas Is The Only Texas Program The Two Polls Rank Differently
The US LBM Coaches Poll, also released Tuesday, has Texas at No. 3. Texas A&M, Texas Tech, SMU, and Houston carry identical numbers in both polls.
Kickoff against Ohio State is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC. ESPN’s College GameDay broadcasts from campus from 8 to 11 a.m. CT.
Ohio State leads the all-time series 3-2 and has won the past two meetings, 14-7 in Columbus in last season’s opener and 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl semifinal in January 2025. Saturday will be the first Ohio State game in Austin since 2006. The Buckeyes opened this season with a 56-3 win over Ball State.
Texas is 1-0 and begins SEC play Sept. 26 at Tennessee. Saturday was the fifth season-opening win in Sarkisian’s six years at Texas. Kickoff temperature reached 96 degrees.
The next AP Top 25 comes out Sunday.
