The Texas Longhorns made a big leap in major college football’s biggest Top 25 poll in the early season.
Following a 31-16 victory over then-17th-ranked Texas Christian University, the Longhorns jumped from unranked to the number 18 ranking in the AP Poll. The second straight loss for TCU was enough to knock the Horned Frogs out of the Top 25.
Texas Tech also crept into the Top 25 from an unranked spot. The Red Raiders are the new number 25 team in the country on the heels of a 41-17 thrashing of Oklahoma State. The Cowboys, who had been ranked number 15, fell out of the Top 25 after a big loss on their home field.
Texas A&M entered the weekend ranked 22nd, but the Aggies lost, 45-23, at number 1 Alabama. Texas A&M is now 2-2, but their two losses are to two of the top three teams in the poll, Alabama and Clemson.
The top four spots in the AP Poll remain unchanged. Alabama is the near-consensus top team in the country, receiving all but one first-place vote. Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, Stanford, Notre Dame and Penn State follow as the major programs with spotless 4-0 records.
The biggest loser of the weekend in college football was Virginia Tech, which fell from the number 13 spot all the way out of the rankings due to a humiliating loss to Old Dominion.
4-0 Kentucky made the biggest leap, to number 17 after being unranked last week. The Wildcats handed Mississippi State a 28-7 loss on Saturday.
The rankings could see a major shakeup next weekend, with two games on the schedule that pit top-10 teams against each other. Number 4 Ohio State visits number 9 Penn State, while number 7 Stanford will play at number 8 Notre Dame.
And those Texas teams might not want to get too comfortable in the Top 25. Texas Tech will play number 12 West Virginia and Texas hits the road to play at Kansas State.
