The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
UT finishes sixth in final AP Poll
01.04.2002 | Football
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas (11-2), fresh off its second consecutive 11-win season (a first in school history), finished sixth in the final 2002 Associated Press Top 25 Poll, which was released on Saturday.
Coupled with their No. 5 final ranking in 2001, the Longhorns now have recorded back-to-back Top 10 finishes the AP Poll for the first time since 1977-78.
UT received 1,363 points and finished behind National Champion Ohio State (14-0/1,775 points), Miami (Fla.) (12-1/1,693), Georgia (13-1/1,598), USC (11-2/1,590) and Oklahoma (12-2/1,476). Kansas State (11-2/1,356), Iowa (11-2/1,334), Michigan (10-3/1,182) and Washington State (10-3/1,085) rounded out the Top 10.
The Longhorns now have been ranked among The AP Top 15 for 40 consecutive weeks, which is the program's longest stint among the nation's Top 15 since a 51-week stint from 1977-80. UT has been among the AP Top 25 for 43 weeks in a row and 64 of the last 65 weeks overall. The Horns' 43 straight weeks is their longest stint since a 52-week span from Sept. 12, 1977-Oct. 27, 1980. Texas has been listed among the Top 25 in 71 of the last 76 weeks under Mack Brown.
Brown now has led seven teams in a row to Top 25 finishes and he is the only active NCAA Division I-A head coach that has posted at least nine victories in each of the last seven seasons.
UT, which also finished seventh in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll, has enjoyed similar success in that poll. The Longhorns have been ranked for 67 consecutive weeks, and since taking over a program that was 4-7 in 1997, Brown has led Texas to a spot in the coaches poll in 74-of-86 weeks.
