The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Longhorns second in USA Today Coaches Poll
08.05.2005 | Football
The annual USA Today Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll was released on Friday morning and The University of Texas ranks second.
The No. 2 national ranking is Texas' highest since 2002, when it ranked second for the first eight weeks of the season. It also marks the fifth consecutive season the Longhorns have opened in the Top 10 and the second time in the last three years they have been ranked in the Top 5. It is the first time since the poll began in 1982 that the Horns have made five consecutive appearances in the Top 10.
"I still believe that we shouldn't have polls until October, when we have a chance to see what a team is really like," head coach Mack Brown said. "However, in 1999, when we had lost eight starters and Ricky Williams, some people ranked us No. 1 going into the season. I told Coach (Darrell) Royal I was concerned about it, and he said 'pre-season polls are like a beauty contest. But if somebody's gonna enter you, you'd like to win.' It's not where we are now, it's where you are at the end of the season. But, it is a whole lot easier to get to No. 1 from No. 2 than it is from No. 20."
Texas, which entered last season ranked No. 8 in the poll, completed its fourth consecutive 10-win season in 2004, finished 11-1 with a Rose Bowl Championship and closed the season with a No. 5 ranking in the coaches poll.
The Longhorns received 1,405 points and two first-place votes, making UT the only team besides No. 1 USC to receive first-place votes. The Trojans totaled 1,547 points and 60 first-place votes. Tennessee (1,426), Michigan (1,387), and Oklahoma (1,328) rounded out the Top 5.
In all, four Big 12 Conference teams were ranked in the Top 25 with Texas A&M ranking 17th and Texas Tech 21st.
The Longhorns open the 2005 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 3, when they host Louisiana-Lafayette at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (6 p.m./FSN).
