Soccer simply appears to imply just a little bit extra in Texas.
The Texas Longhorns aren’t the one faculty soccer staff within the state, however they’re completely a nationwide blue blood and an excellent illustration of how football-centric the state may be.
They’re additionally traditionally a profitable program. Sure, there have been powerful occasions in latest reminiscence, however this can be a program that has been round since 1893 and has collected a ton of wins. That features 4 nationwide championships and 33 bowl-game victories.
Surprisingly sufficient, although, previous to Monday, the Longhorns had by no means began the season ranked No. 1 within the AP Prime 25 ballot.
Within the freshly minted preseason AP Top 25, Texas beat out Penn State for the highest rating. It was shut, although. In actual fact, the AP, through ESPN, is reporting that that is the closest preseason ballot since 1998.
“Texas obtained 25 first-place votes and 1,552 factors to provide the Southeastern Convention the preseason No. 1 staff for a report fifth straight 12 months,” the AP wrote. “The Nittany Lions acquired 23 first-place votes and 1,547 factors for his or her highest preseason rating since they have been No. 1 to open the 1997 season.”
Texas went 13-3 final season and made all of it the way in which to the School Soccer Playoff semifinal earlier than dropping to the eventual champion, Ohio State.
The Longhorns misplaced 12 gamers to the NFL Draft. There’s at all times turnover season to season, however head coach Steve Sarkisian is likely one of the finest recruiters within the nation, and he additionally did an excellent job of bringing in new expertise through the switch portal.
There’s additionally the truth that Texas may very well be upgrading at quarterback, because the Longhorns are diving head-first into the Arch Manning period. Former beginning quarterback Quinn Ewers went 27-9 as a starter for the Longhorns, which may’t be simply discounted, however appreciable hype surrounds Manning and what he might accomplish because the full-time starter.
All of it provides as much as a preseason No. 1 rating for Texas, and a historic one at that.
