Texas Football's Post-Spring Rankings Revealed

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Brendan Howe | Last updated May 12, 2025 7:24 PM ET

The upcoming college football season is inching closer. As it approaches, analysts are ranking the top programs in the sport. CBS Sports' Josh Pate views the Texas Longhorns as being the No. 2 team in the country at the moment.

Steve Sarkisian's program only trails Clemson (No. 1) on Pate's list. Penn State (No. 3), Alabama (No. 4), LSU (No. 5), Notre Dame (No. 6), Oregon (No. 7), and Ohio State (No. 8) follow.

Arch Manning is the Longhorns' headliner, of course, but Texas figures to showcase a wealth of talent, even having lost some top-notch players to the NFL this spring. On Texas Football's Jeff Howe believes Sarkisian knows how to keep his team motivated following back-to-back College Football Playoff semifinal appearances.

"I think the great thing Sark has done ... the last two offseasons, is he's identified something to keep the team hungry," Howe said last month. "Coming off that loss to Washington, it was, 'Hey, think about how close you were. You've gotta be obsessed. If you wanna get back there, you've gotta be obsessed with it.' I think for this team is, everybody's talking about what you don't have.

"You know, 'You've lost four starters on the offensive line. You're gonna lose a first-round wide receiver. You're gonna lose a Jim Thorpe Award winner. You're losing the Outland Trophy winner. You're losing all this.' ... I think Sark's gonna use that internally; at least he'd be smart to, to say, 'Hey, there's a lot of people that are waiting for you guys to fail.'"

The Longhorns open the season against the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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