College Football Will Have a New No. 1 Team After Week 2

With just under three minutes left on Saturday night, Texas had a 1.7 percent chance to beat Ohio State. But beat them they did, paving the way for a new No. 1 team in the college football rankings.

That will almost certainly be Texas, in a perfect inversion of what happened a year ago, when the top-ranked Longhorns lost to the Buckeyes in Columbus, and then lost that ranking to the team that beat them. In 2026, revenge feels very sweet.

But they sure had to earn it. Ohio State looked like the No. 1 team early, taking advantage of Longhorn mistakes, including two ugly turnovers early on, but Arch Manning led a comeback for the ages, scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

SEC Network Host Saw It Coming

“Ohio State and Texas, to me, is going to be the game that shapes the first half of the season. Why is that? Because last year, Texas went in No. 1. They didn’t deserve to be No. 1, but they did because of the star power,” Matt Barrie said before the game.

“I think Texas makes a statement … they’ll be the No. 1 ranked team in the country after beating Ohio State.”@MattBarrie is calling his shot 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/EpOXOauJvA
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) September 11, 2026

“I think not only is Texas going to win this game, I think they’re going to win it convincingly, because Ohio State lost so much defensively. They got to go on the road. Arch and his weapons? I think Texas makes a statement at home, plants their flag. They’ll be the No. 1 ranked team in the country.”

Convincingly? Winning by one point may not be quite that, but the domination the Manning-led offense displayed against the Ohio State defense was definitely a statement for the Longhorns.

Longhorns Never Quit

College Football Will Have a New No. 1 Team After Week 2 — IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Arch Manning gets most of the attention around what Texas does or doesn’t do, good and bad, and once again he was the focus of attention on Saturday. This time, for what he did, and for being very good.

What made the Longhorns’ comeback so remarkable was what happened before.

Manning and the Texas offense couldn’t do anything right early on, suffering a weird fumble on the first play and a goofy interception on what could have been a long touchdown. A dropped touchdown followed, as did a 23-3 lead for Ohio State.

Ryan Wingo dropped that TD, but caught another in the second half, and Hollywood Smothers dove for a 1-yard touchdown to complete a run of 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and what is arguably the best overall win for head coach Steve Sarkisian at Texas.

Questions Around Ohio State

Jeremiah Smith, considered the best wide receiver in college football, had 164 yards in the air off 8 balls and scored once, but consequential passes thrown his way were either inaccurate or found the wideout blanketed by a Longhorns defensive back.

An Ohio State defense that lost eight of its blue-chip tacklers from a year ago looked like it missed those players, appearing gassed during the fourth quarter run, and not helped by an offense that mustered just 3 points in the second half.

It’s a poor omen for a national title hopeful that plays four more games on the road, including three against currently ranked opponents, in addition to a home date against Oregon. Ohio State has a long road to proving itself worthy again.

Texas, not so much. At 2-0 and with a win over the No. 1 team in the country, the SEC title hopeful is sitting pretty.

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