Texas Longhorns Top Preseason Coaches Poll

The Texas Longhorns have been seen as one of the top teams in college football for essentially the entire offseason, and now that the season is just weeks away, it's starting to feel more real than ever before.

On Monday, USA TODAY unveiled the preseason Coaches Poll - as voted on by FBS coaches, hence the name - with just under a month to go before the season gets underway. In not-so-surprising fashion, the Longhorns claimed the No. 1 spot with 28 of 67 first-place votes and earned 1606 total points. In case there were any doubts, those around the sport absolutely view the Longhorns as a national championship contender.

Perhaps even more interesting than the Longhorns' ranking on its own, a high bar for sure, is what it means for their season opener.

Texas Longhorns, Ohio State Buckeyes Set for Top-2 Matchup

The Ohio State Buckeyes, who defeated the Longhorns in last season's College Football Playoff semifinal en route to a national championship, came in at second with 20 first-place votes and 1,565 total points.

Texas will travel up to Columbus for a rematch against Ohio State on Aug. 30, which was already far and a way the most-anticipated matchup in Week 1. Now, it's officially a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup (at least according to the Coaches Poll), adding even more intrigue to a can't-miss game.

“I’ve been down this road a couple of different times throughout my career,” Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said previously. “This is probably the most daunting challenge of a first game. ... way back in ’03, we opened at Auburn when I was at SC and that was a heck of a challenge. We had a new quarterback in Matt Leinart and a couple of freshman running backs in Reggie Bush and Lendale White.

“We were a young team and had a great defense that year, and found a way to win on the road against what might have been the preseason No. 1 team in the country at the time in Auburn."

Both the Longhorns and Buckeyes are much different teams now than they were when they met in January, but the respect between the two blue bloods is very much intact.

Rounding out the top five are Penn State (14 first-place votes, 1,525 points), Georgia (three first-place votes, 1,466 points) and Notre Dame (no first-place votes, 1,360 points). Texas also travels to face Georgia on Nov. 15.