Texas football has now reached No. 1 in 13 different seasons. How UT finished each year

For the first time since the glory years in the 1960s under former coach and stadium namesake Darrell K Royal, Texas football has reached the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press poll for three consecutive seasons.

But the Longhorns couldn’t care less about climbing to the top of the polls after beating former No.1 Ohio State in a thriller Saturday night. They want to be at the top when the season ends with the College Football Playoff championship game Jan. 25 in Las Vegas.

“It’s only about No. 1 at the end of the season,” defensive tackle Hero Kanu said Monday. “At the end of the day, nobody remembers No. 2, anyways. Nobody remembers No. 3.”

For quarterback Arch Manning, that starts with forgetting the win over Ohio State, even if his performance late in the 24-23 victory has already found a spot in Longhorns lore. He threw for 195 yards on 23-of-37 passing, but his fourth quarter was the stuff of legend; in the final 15 minutes, he completed 11 of his final 15 passes for 128 yards and one touchdown and eight of those completions resulted in a first down or a touchdown, including two fourth-down conversions. 

Sure, that performance helped vault the Longhorns (2-0) from No. 4 to No. 1 in Sunday’s AP poll. But it won’t have any impact on whether Texas can handle a dangerous 2-0 UTSA team Saturday night, Manning said.

Texas Longhorns running back Hollywood Smothers (2) leaps over tackle attempts in the fourth quarter of Texas’ 24-23 win over Ohio State at Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin, Sept. 12, 2026. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman)

“Nothing matters besides the game every week,” he said. “UTSA is a really good team, and they have some confidence. We had a lot to prove. We left a lot on the table (vs. Ohio State). We’re just scratching the service.”

It’s a message Texas coach Steve Sarkisian loves to hear, especially from veterans like Manning, left tackle Trevor Goosby, edge rusher Colin Simmons, safety Jelani McDonald and the 15 other scholarship players who have been a part of a top-ranked team over the past three seasons.

“This isn’t necessarily foreign territory for us,” Sarkisian said. “But I don’t know how well we handled it the previous two years, and I don’t know how worthy we always were of those rankings (and) of the opinions of others. What we do is what matters, and I think that is something that when you talk about the Arches, the Trevors, the Collins, the Jelanis, those guys who have been in this thing now with us through this journey, understand the ranking doesn’t matter. If anything, all the ranking does is put a bigger bullseye on you. How we perform is what matters the most.”

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) celebrates a win against the Ohio State Buckeyes 24-23 at Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin, Sept. 12, 2026. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman)
Texas Longhorns have fared each season they reached No. 1 

Texas has been ranked No. 1 at least some point in the season in 13 different years since the Associated Press began its rankings. Here are the years the Longhorns drew a No. 1 ranking – and how they finished in each of those seasons.

1961: Texas spent two weeks atop the polls and finished No. 3 in the final AP rankings.

1962: The Longhorns spent two weeks at No. 1 and finished fourth.

1963: Texas spent a program-high eight weeks atop the polls and won their first national championship.

1964: Texas topped the poll three times before finishing No. 5.

1965: The Longhorns opened the season ranked No. 1 but finished 6-4 and out of the polls.

1969: The Longhorns spent three weeks at No. 2 before winning their second national title.

1970: Texas topped the poll six times and were No. 2 the rest of the season, but finished third in the final poll.

1977: The Longhorns spent six weeks at No. 1 before finishing the season No. 4.

2005: The Longhorns ranked No. 2 behind USC all season before beating the Trojans in the Rose Bowl to finishing atop the AP poll for the third time.

2008: Texas ranked No. 1 for three weeks before finishing No. 4.   

2024: In Steve Sarkisian’s fourth season, the Longhorns topped the poll four weeks before finishing No. 4.

2025: Texas ranked No. 1 to open the season, but finished No. 12.

2026: The Longhorns jumped to No. 1 after dispatching No. 1 Ohio State in the second week of the season.

Texas Longhorns Fans cheer on during the Longhorns’ game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin, Sept. 12, 2026. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman)