Inside the AP Poll: Why it makes no sense that Texas remains ranked - NBC Sports
Nicole Auerbach did not rank Texas. Her fellow voters did. Here's why they're wrong.
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Vaughn Dalzell,
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Arrow pointing down for integrity of the game
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Inside the AP Poll: Why it makes no sense that Texas remains ranked
By
Nicole Auerbach,
By
Nicole Auerbach
Published October 26, 2025 04:49 PM
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Each week, I join 65 other AP voters and submit my Top 25. The process has gotten easier as the season has gone on because we have so many more results and so much more information to base that ballot on. I try not to overreact to individual results as much as possible — anyone who watches college football knows it is incredibly easy to do just that — and I try to re-evaluate every few weeks to make sure I’m giving teams the proper amount of credit for wins and losses based on the new knowledge we have of their past opponents.
RELATED: Big 12 lands season-high 5 teams in the AP Top 25, No. 9 Vandy’s ranking highest since 1937, LSU out
I am not convinced that my fellow voters are doing that with Texas. The Longhorns are 6-2, and they play in the SEC. That appears to be all that is required to keep them in the Top 25. Every SEC team with two or fewer losses is ranked. It took LSU picking up its third loss in blowout fashion at home for the Tigers to finally fall out of the poll — even though it’s been obvious for weeks that the LSU offense has all sorts of problems, starting with its inability to run the ball and a star quarterback who has regressed.
Instead of basing a decision on both the eye test and all of the metrics that backed up what we were seeing weekly from Garrett Nussmeier and Co., my fellow voters kept giving the Tigers credit they didn’t deserve. They waited for that third loss, then they could defend the decision not to rank LSU. Some of us reached that point weeks earlier.
The exact same dynamic is happening with Texas. Most voters are defaulting to keeping the Longhorns in their Top 25s as long as they win their games, even if they’re ugly. It doesn’t matter that it took a frantic comeback and overtime for Texas to beat Mississippi State on Saturday — a result that handed the Bulldogs their 16th consecutive SEC loss. Slide ‘em up two spots!Why?
Rating: 5