Former No. 1 College Football Power Set to Plunge in Rankings After Latest Loss

For the second time in as many weeks, a college football blue blood program took an unexpected loss against an unranked opponent. And now they’re about to pay for it in the upcoming AP top 25 rankings this week.

Once upon a time, Texas was the No. 1 team in college football. Now, after two straight losses, culminating in a disastrous showing against Florida on Saturday, they’re due for a serious fall in the poll midway through the season.

Longhorns had a big lead

Holding a convincing 17-3 advantage at home against a Gators squad that lost two straight games, all Texas had to do was lean on that superb defense of theirs.

Instead, after a fourth down attempt that didn’t go their way, the Longhorns surrendered 24 unanswered points, and the Arch Manning-led offense got stuck in neutral again, resulting in a 27-24 loss at home.

Saturday’s result followed another 27-24 defeat last weekend against rival Oklahoma that dropped Texas from its former No. 1 ranking down to No. 7. Now, after this showing, AP voters will be in a mood to punish the former SEC title hopefuls even more.

Texas became just the third team in the AP poll era since 1936 to lose back-to-back games when they entered the streak as the No. 1 ranked team. Pittsburgh in 1939 and Michigan State in 1961 were the only others until now.

More questions around Arch Manning

The Texas quarterback was 14 of 20 passing for 173 yards and a touchdown, not exactly the kind of numbers you expect with a battery of elite receivers going against the SEC’s worst pass defense.

While he didn’t have any interceptions, unlike last week, Manning still had too many miscues and questionable throws, and his late fumble sealed the Longhorns’ fate.

Playing in the third quarter, in particular, has been a nightmare. Texas has just three — yes, three — points in that quarter against Power Four opponents this season: none against Ohio State, none against Oklahoma, none against Florida, 3 against Tennessee.

Turnaround for the Gators

Florida was college football’s hottest, then coldest, team after a dramatic stretch where they beat up No. 4 Ole Miss and then absorbed two ugly losses where they allowed 83 combined points.

Now once again on the upswing, Jon Sumrall’s program gets a shot in the arm with a statement win against a ranked SEC opponent. And with their backup quarterback carrying the load: Tramell Jones was 22 of 35 in the air with 2 touchdown passes.

Sumrall now has two top ten wins in the past four weeks at Florida. His predecessor, Billy Napier, had three such victories in four years.

It marks the first time since 2012 that the Gators defeated two top-ten ranked teams in the same season, and is the program’s highest ranked true road win since beating No. 4 LSU back in 2009.