The Texas Longhorns are once again in the running for the national title.
After back-to-back appearances in the College Football Playoff semifinals, there’s no question that the Texas Longhorns will be national championship contenders once again in 2025.
What is a question is where they rank among the country’s elite teams right now. Most rankings seem to have the Longhorns somewhere in the top five, but where exactly seems to change with each new ranking that comes out.
For instance, Texas is ranked third by ESPN’s Mark Schlabach in his post-spring rankings, just behind Clemson and Penn State.
“After waiting patiently for two years, the highly-anticipated Arch Manning era is off and running in Austin,” Schlabach stated. “Manning appears more than prepared to replace the late starter Quinn Ewers, despite his scant playing time versus SEC teams. Four starting offensive linemen will need to be replaced by the Longhorns; in the spring, Cole Hutson shifted to center, and Trevor Goosby was training at left tackle. DJ Campbell, the right guard, had a fantastic spring as well.
“Texas’ top three pass catchers from 2024 (Matthew Golden, Gunnar Helm and Isaiah Bond) are also gone. There are still good options in Ryan Wingo, DeAndre Moore Jr. and Mosley, who caught 48 passes for 525 yards with six scores as a Stanford freshman in 2024. Moore and Wingo were limited in the spring because of injuries. Hill and Simmons are the leaders on defense, along with safeties Taafe and Jelani McDonald. Texas brought in five defensive line transfers, including Watson, a freshman All-American at Syracuse last season.”
The performance of Manning, one of the most anticipated quarterbacks in recent college football history, may and probably will determine the outcome of the Longhorns’ season. The Longhorns will be in excellent condition if he lives up to the expectations and is a serious candidate for the Heisman Trophy. The Longhorns may suffer the same fate if he doesn’t live up to their expectations.
Manning is unquestionably crucial this season, and that is not to minimize the other extremely gifted players on both sides of the ball.
With so much potential on the roster, the Longhorns will only need to put everything together. However, they will face some challenging obstacles along the way.
