Both texted the finish-line picture to the coaches at the same moment. "It really was a tie," Simmons said. "He could think he won, but he didn't win." Nobody was declared the winner in late July because that wasn't the point of the exercise.
Steve Sarkisian moved his team-building work from August to February this year and turned July into a competition over push-ups and landmarks on the 40 Acres, because the last time he assumed a Texas team would find itself, it went 10-3 and watched the College Football Playoff from home. "I failed our team a year ago by doing it that way," Sarkisian said. Many assumed Texas would figure it out in 2025.
The Longhorns opened last season No. 1 in polls, but finished No. 13 in the final CFP rankings, undone by a 14-7 loss at Ohio State in Week 1, a 29-21 loss at Florida to a team that finished 4-8, and a third straight defeat to Georgia. Sarkisian didn't idle after the season. He surprisingly fired defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who had been with him all five years, and brought back Will Muschamp, who ran the Texas defense from 2008 to 2010 and was once the head coach in waiting.
He signed 47 new players, including the nation's No. 3 transfer class, peppered with some of the most talented and productive players in the country. The list of newcomers reads more like an All-American team than a typical portal haul. Running backs Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown.
The roster, one could argue, is more talented than the one that started No. 1 last season. The skepticism, however, is just as real. Whether it's Sarkisian falling short of SEC titles and deep CFP runs, or Arch Manning's slow start last season – or the "Texas is back" narrative that has become more meme folly than declaration — the lasso holding the Horns back in the media is taut.
On Monday, the AP voters slotted Texas fifth — one spot lower than the coaches — and the Longhorns got zero first-place votes, while five others did. SEC media in July picked Georgia to win the league with 88 votes; Texas was second with 57. Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss edged Manning for first-team All-SEC quarterback.
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