Manning enters the season as the Heisman favorite despite throwing less than 100 career passes to this point.
College football officially begins this month.
Now that it's August, there are less than two weeks until Kansas State and Iowa State meet in Dublin to begin the 2025 regular season. And since the season is quickly approaching, we're rolling out our preseason Top 25.
Next up in our rankings is the No. 3 team, and the rest will be revealed in the coming days. (All odds are from BetMGM.)
Previously: Nos. 11 through 25, No. 10 Miami, No. 9 Alabama, No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 7 LSU, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 5 Georgia, No. 4 Oregon
No. 3 Texas
2024 record: 13-3
National championship odds: +475
Odds to make College Football Playoff: -310
2024 in 100 words
The Longhorns started the season 6-0 in a stretch that included a convincing 31-12 win over Michigan and an even more convincing 34-3 win over Oklahoma. However, those teams weren’t close to being playoff contenders.
Texas got its first dose of Georgia on Oct. 19 when the Bulldogs just bullied the Longhorns’ offense in a 30-15 loss. Texas then won five more games to make it to the SEC title game and face … you guessed it, Georgia. The Bulldogs again got the better of the Longhorns in a 22-19 win without Carson Beck for the second half. Even so, Texas won two playoff games to advance to the national semifinals, where it lost 28-14 to eventual champion Ohio State.
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The quarterback
Arch Manning
What is there left to say about Arch Manning before the season begins? The buildup to his first season as Texas’ full-time starter is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent college football history. Manning is the Heisman favorite at +600 despite throwing fewer than 100 career passes in college football.
Many of those passes came early in the 2024 season after Quinn Ewers suffered an oblique injury. Manning sent the hype machine into overdrive immediately after he replaced Ewers against UTSA when he was 9-of-12 passing for 223 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing three times for 53 yards and a score.
He started the next two games for the Longhorns as Ewers recovered and one was better than the other. Against Louisiana-Monroe, Manning’s first college start was pretty pedestrian. He was 15-of-29 passing for 258 yards and 2 TDs and 2 interceptions in the 51-3 win. He was much better the next week against Mississippi State. Manning was 26-of-31 for 325 yards and two scores against the Bulldogs while also rushing six times for 33 yards and a TD.
There was a moment in the first loss to Georgia where it looked like Texas coach Steve Sarkisian could be making the switch from Ewers to Manning late in the second half. Georgia’s relentless pressure had put Ewers and the Texas offense into a funk and Sarkisian inserted Manning into the game.
A spark didn’t happen. Manning was 3-of-6 for 19 yards and fumbled with 25 seconds to go to set up a Georgia field goal and a 23-0 halftime lead for the Bulldogs.
With Ewers off to the NFL, the time is now for Manning. And it sure looks like this will be the first of two seasons as Texas’ starting quarterback given what his grandfather Archie said to Texas Monthly. Arch, meanwhile, said at SEC media day that he’s learning to become more of a vocal leader now that he’s the starter.
“I think as much as it wasn’t always easy, those two years I kind of feel like I got a lot of respect from the team,” Arch said of his two seasons as a backup. “Now being more of a vocal leader, they know it’s coming from a place of love. When I get on someone, they know I’m not just being a turd.”
Non-QB to watch
WR Ryan Wingo
The Longhorns lose their top three receivers from 2024 in Matthew Golden, Gunnar Helm and Isaiah Bond. All three each had more than 500 yards receiving and combined for over half of Texas’ receiving TDs.
Enter Wingo, who played a significant role as a freshman. Wingo had 29 grabs for 472 yards and two scores and was also used as a changeup on wide receiver runs. He had five carries for 100 yards thanks to a big 55-yard dash in the Week 2 win over Michigan.
The former four-star recruit will team with DeAndre Moore Jr. on the outside while five-star freshman Kaliq Lockett could also push for playing time.
Best position group
Linebackers
Anthony Hill leads the position group after he was everywhere in 2024. Hill had 113 tackles, eight sacks and an interception as the leader of Texas’ defense. He should again be the team’s leader in tackles and an All-American candidate.
Liona Lefau is also back after he had 63 tackles last season and Jelani McDonald should step into a bigger role after he had 33 stops as a true freshman. Behind Hill and Lefau, Texas also has a ton of depth at the position. This was an easy choice on what could be a stacked defense.
Biggest game
Oct. 11 vs. Oklahoma
No, we’re not forgetting about the Week 1 showdown at Ohio State or the Week 12 game at Georgia on Nov. 15. Both of those games are massive and worthy of inclusion as the biggest game of the year.
But it’s conceivable that Texas could lose both of those road games and still be in the thick of the SEC title race and the playoff race. Losing to both Georgia and Oklahoma will complicate Texas’ road back to the SEC championship game.
The Oklahoma game also comes in the middle of a four-game stretch that doesn’t include a home game. Texas plays at Florida on Oct. 4 before the annual game in Dallas and then plays at Kentucky and at Mississippi State over the following two weeks before a home game against Vanderbilt.
Oklahoma should be much improved in 2025 and give Texas a much better game. Winning is imperative for bragging rights and Texas’ hopes of a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.
Why Texas is No. 3
For all the attention that will be paid to Manning and the Texas offense this season, the biggest reason for Texas’ ranking is its defense. Just ask Sarkisian.
“This is probably the deepest and most talented defense that we’ve had, and we’ve made incremental growth on the defensive side of the ball now through four years,” Sarkisian said at SEC media days. “And we’re going to need to do that again. I think championships are won on the defensive side of the ball, and we’ve got a defensive football team that we’re very excited about.”
That defense could be what gives Texas the edge in Week 1 against the Buckeyes, even if the Longhorns are slight underdogs. Whoever starts at QB for Ohio State will also be very inexperienced, and the Buckeyes have far more turnover on the defensive side of the ball than the Longhorns.
Texas gave up just over 15 points per game in 2024 and that number should be similar in 2025. Opposing offenses averaged 283 yards per game — only Ohio State and Indiana allowed fewer yards a contest. This is a well-rounded football team that should be going for a top-four seed in the College Football Playoff.
Category: General Sports
