What Curt Cignetti Thinks About Texas Longhorns in Final Coaches Poll

According to the head coach of the national champion Indiana Hoosiers, the Texas Longhorns were College Football Playoff worthy.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti after defeating the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The 2025 college football season has come to a close with the Indiana Hoosiers securing their first national title in program history. In just two years with the Hoosiers, head coach Curt Cignetti has done what was thought to be impossible for decades.

With the season now complete, the final AP Poll rankings are out, and along with them come the top-25 rankings from head coaches around the country. While the Texas Longhorns were excluded from the College Football Playoff, normally ranked the No. 12 or No. 13 team in the country, they received high praise from the head coach from the current national champions.

In Cignetti's final ballot for the US LBM Coaches Poll, the Indiana head coach ranked the Longhorns at No. 8, showing that even one of the best coaches in the sport thought Texas should have been included among the final teams competing for a national title.

Respect from an Elite Coach

Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti speaks at the champions press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 20. 2026. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Despite handing the then-No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies their first loss to close the regular season, the Longhorns were still seen as a team that didn't quite matchup against the other programs included in the College Football Playoff.

Before the playoff committee solidified their field for the playoff, the Longhorns were a hot topic of discussion. Some argued that because of their strength of schedule, centering around their road game against the 2024 national champion Ohio State Buckeyes at the beginning of the season.

Others argued that because of Texas' road loss to the Florida Gators, who finished the 2025 season with just four wins, they shouldn't have even had a chance at making an appearance in the postseason. Even with Texas having wins over three teams that were ranked in the top-10 at the time, many reasoned that the stumble to start conference play was too much to overlook.

The debate makes Cignetti's top-10 ranking of the Longhorns all the more notable. While the selection committee ultimately left the program out of the College Football Playoff, the national champion head coach saw Texas in a different light.

Ranking the Longhorns No. 8 in the country, and ahead of Texas A&M who lost in the first round of the playoff, Cignetti made it clear that he viewed Texas as a team capable of competing with the best in the country. Coming from a coach that just navigated a historic championship run, that kind of recognition carries weight.

It also sets the bar even higher for head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns next season. With respect from one of elite coaches in college football, anything short of an appearance in the College Football Playoff will below the program's expectations.