Texas Falls Out of AP Poll After Arkansas Loss
The Texas Longhorns and new head coach Steve Sarkisian were riding high after a week one win against Louisiana just one week ago. Previously ranked at No. 21, the 38-18 win propelled the Longhorns six spots up to No. 15, the highest rise of any team in the country after opening weekend.
Headed into the first road test of the season against the Arkansas Razorbacks, the No. 15 Longhorns were presented with a quality opportunity to prove themselves as a team ready to rise back up the top.
Instead, disaster seemed to ensue in Fayetteville on Saturday night, as Texas was dominated by Arkansas from start to finish en route to a 40-21 loss. The final score made it seem like a competitive game, but the Razorbacks had their foot on the gas from kick-off.
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After being on the verge of breaking into the top 10 of the AP poll, the Longhorns (1-1) have now fallen completely out of the top 25, as the team will be unranked headed into a week three matchup at home next Saturday against Rice.
The full AP Top 25 can be found here.
Other Big 12 teams in the top 25 include the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners (2-0) and the No. 14 Iowa State Cyclones (1-1).
A significant drop out of the rankings for Texas was not much of a surprise, especially since Arkansas outplayed the Horns in basically every aspect of the game on Saturday. It would have been considerably more surprising if the Longhorns stayed in the top 25 at all.
Here are some stats to help paint a picture of just how dominant Arkansas was in the win:
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1) Not a single member of Arkansas' offense rushed for more than 75 yards in Saturday's win
2) Despite this, the team managed to combine for a whopping 333 yards rushing yards
3) Texas only had 256 total yards on offense
4) Texas had five three-and-outs. This doesn't include the third-quarter drive where Hudson Card lost a fumble on the first play
5) Despite trailing for the entire game, the Longhorns managed to only pass for 118 yards from Card and Casey Thompson combined
As you can see, there wasn't much to be happy about as a Longhorn fan on Saturday night. Texas' highly-anticipated arrival to the SEC now seems like a premature move to the rest of the college football world.
Coach Sark and the Longhorns will need to make some major improvements throughout the season in order to stay competitive in their current conference, as an opportunity for a Big 12 championship game appearance is still possible.
Texas will aim for 2-1 next Saturday at home against an old rival in the Rice Owls. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. C.T.
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