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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/jimbobbypaul on 2023-08-09 19:59:40.
Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
WE’RE BAAAAAAACK. Texas comes in as the best team in the state of Texas, but #16 might be lower than some were expecting. They’re still the 2nd best team in the Big 12, and rank above 115 other FBS teams. If we’re talking all-time, Texas is straight up in GOAT contention, ranking 5th in wins (936), 7th in win percentage (.701), and 3rd in bowl games (58). When you think NCAA football, you think Texas. Vince Young’s winning TD against USC is one of the most famous plays in CFB history. Ricky Williams became the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher. The Longhorn logo is arguably the most recognizable college sports logo in the world. They have their own Longhorn NETWORK, for crying out loud. It just means more.
Best Seasons and Highlights
1. 2005: 1. Texas: 13-0 (62.676) 2. 2008: 4. Texas: 12-1 (52.623) 3. 2009: 3. Texas: 13-1 (48.636) 4. 1983: 3. Texas: 11-1 (40.574) 5. 2004: 4. Texas: 11-1 (40.307) 6. 2001: 5. Texas: 11-2 (40.241) 7. 2002: 6. Texas: 11-2 (39.425) 8. 1990: 5. Texas: 10-2 (35.638) 9. 2003: 11. Texas: 10-3 (32.172) 10. 1995: 11. Texas: 10-2-1 (31.548) 11. 2006: 17. Texas: 10-3 (27.346) 12. 2007: 13. Texas: 10-3 (26.241) 13. 1998: 14. Texas: 9-3 (23.997) 14. 2018: 18. Texas: 10-4 (23.686) 15. 2020: 15. Texas: 7-3 (23.201) 16. 2012: 24. Texas: 9-4 (17.613) 17. 2000: 18. Texas: 9-3 (17.384) 18. 1999: 16. Texas: 9-5 (16.525) 19. 2019: 27. Texas: 8-5 (16.306) 20. 2022: 23. Texas: 8-5 (15.041) 21. 1996: 26. Texas: 8-5 (12.616) 22. 1984: 26. Texas: 7-4-1 (12.411) 23. 1994: 26. Texas: 8-4 (11.699) 24. 1985: 27. Texas: 8-4 (11.100) 25. 2013: 34. Texas: 8-5 (10.282) 26. 2011: 33. Texas: 8-5 (9.732) 27. 1987: 32. Texas: 7-5 (6.282) 28. 2017: 42. Texas: 7-6 (4.453) 29. 1992: 40. Texas: 6-5 (-1.401) 30. 1991: 43. Texas: 5-6 (-2.585) 31. 1993: 40. Texas: 5-5-1 (-3.910) 32. 2021: 57. Texas: 5-7 (-3.935) 33. 2015: 62. Texas: 5-7 (-6.307) 34. 1989: 50. Texas: 5-6 (-7.116) 35. 1986: 55. Texas: 5-6 (-9.777) 36. 2014: 71. Texas: 6-7 (-11.030) 37. 2010: 68. Texas: 5-7 (-13.653) 38. 2016: 73. Texas: 5-7 (-14.207) 39. 1997: 73. Texas: 4-7 (-22.110) 40. 1988: 74. Texas: 4-7 (-24.973) Overall Score: 37943 (16th)
- 322-168-3 record
- 1 national title
- 7 conference titles
- 16-13 bowl record
- 35 consensus All-Americans
- 154 NFL players drafted
During the 2000’s (2000-09), Texas was 110-19, tied for the most wins among Power 6 programs in that span, and are the #3 team in my rankings over that decade. Outside of that, they have 4 seasons of 10+ wins and 7 seasons of 9+ wins. 2021 Texas is my best 5-7 team of all time, having beaten #23 UL Lafayette 38-18, 7-6 Texas Tech 70-35, and 8-5 Kansas State 22-17, with losses to 3 postseason Top 10 teams and 6 bowl teams. Also, hey, Texas. Y’got too many consensus All-Americans. I can’t cover them all. Players of note are DB Jerry Gray (1983, 1984), RB Ricky Williams (1997, 1998) who won the Heisman and ran for 6279 career yards, LB Derrick Johnson (2003, 2004), DE Jackson Jeffcoat (2013) who had 13 sacks, K Anthony Fera (2013) who transferred from Penn State after the Paterno allegations and hit 20 of 22 FGs, DT Malcolm Brown (2014) who was different than their RB Malcolm Brown, OT Connor Williams (2016), RB D’Onta Foreman (2016) who ran for over 2000 yards, DB DeShon Elliott (2017) who called Texas DBU, P Michael Dickson (2017) who averaged 47.4 yards per punt, LB Joseph Ossai (2020), and RB Bijan Robinson (2022) who won the Doak Walker Award. Top NFL players include K Justin Tucker, RB Priest Holmes, S Earl Thomas, LB Derrick Johnson, RB Ricky Williams, DT Casey Hampton, RB Jamaal Charles, RB/WR/RS Eric Metcalf, LB Brian Orakpo, WR Roy Williams, K Phil Dawson, CB Quandre Diggs, and P Michael Dickson.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 1988 (4-7 overall, 2-5 SWC)
Search “1988 Texas football” on Google and you’ll find many more results for high school football than Longhorn football. A 4-7 year included wins over 2-10 New Mexico, FCS North Texas, 0-11 Rice, and 4-7 TCU, with losses of 6-47 to BYU (the Cougars have been doing it long before Taysom Hill) and 15-66 to Andre Ware’s Houston, Texas’ worst loss since 1904. The rest of their losses were close though, losing by 4 points or less to #17 Arkansas, Texas Tech, Baylor, and Texas A&M. For an offense that had a ton of playmakers, the QB play was surprisingly bad, with Mark Murdock throwing 10 TD 13 INT and Shannon Kelley throwing 3 TD 9 INT. They were loaded with talent, 7 of their top 8 receivers were drafted into the NFL! In order from most to least receiving yards, they were WR Tony Jones (6th round), RB Eric Metcalf (1st), TE Kerry Cash (5th), WR Johnny Walker (8th), TE Stephen Clark (12th), WR Keith Cash (7th), and RB Darron Norris (9th). Metcalf left Texas with the 2nd most yards from scrimmage (2661 rushing + 1390 receiving = 4051 total), and was a 3x Pro Bowler and 2x 1st Team All-Pro in the NFL. LB Britt Hager was an All-American, and is the father of Texas DL/LB Breckyn Hager (2015-18).
5. 2004 (11-1 overall, 7-1 Big 12)
Mack Brown had a very good start at Texas from 1998-2003, but they didn’t win their first BCS bowl until 2004. Sophomore QB Vince Young and RB Cedric Benson formed one of the best rushing backfields in the country, with Benson rushing for 1834 yards and Young 1079. A 4-0 start was halted with a 0-12 loss to #2 Oklahoma, who’d go unbeaten and make the national title game. They’d bounce back with a 28-20 win over #24 Missouri, 51-21 over Texas Tech, and 31-7 over Colorado to improve to 7-1 and #6. Down 7-35 to #19 Oklahoma State, Young led the biggest comeback in school history, scoring the next 49 points to win 56-35. Benson had 5 rushing TDs and Young was 18/21 passing with 278 passing and 123 rushing yards. Finishing the year with wins over Kansas and #22 Texas A&M, Texas was 10-1 entering the postseason. Mack Brown lobbied for Texas to make the Rose Bowl over Cal, saying "If you’ve got a vote, vote for us…This team deserves to go to the BCS. They deserve to go more than some teams that are being talked about.” Well, it worked, and #6 Texas played #13 Michigan in the Granddaddy of them all. Texas started some early talk of a 2005 National Championship, coming back from a 21-31 4th quarter deficit to beat Michigan 38-37 on a last second FG. Vince had 21 carries for 192 yards and 4 TD, winning the game’s MVP. When asked about the Rose Bowl next year, “We’ll be baaaack!” He said, and well, he was right.
Texas finished #5 with a Rose Bowl win, averaging 35.2 PPG while giving up 17.9 PPG. Young threw for 1849 yards 12 TD 11 INT with 1079 yards and 14 TD on 6.5 YPC. Cedric Benson was the best RB in the country, putting up 1834 yards and 19 TD. LB Derrick Johnson earned his second consecutive consensus All-American spot, winning the Big 12 Defensive POTY, Bronko Nagurski Award, and Dick Butkus Award. After the Rose Bowl, Mack Brown said “There will never be a better ballgame in the Rose Bowl.” Well, you were wrong Mack. Stay tuned.
2004 Texas is my 168th best team since 1983.
4. 1983 (11-1 overall, 8-0 SWC)
So close to glory. For as good as a program all-time as Texas is, they only have 4 national titles, which compared to their peers is pretty low. In 1983 they were just 1 win away from winning a 5th (4th at the time). Coach Fred Akers was in his 7th season, and had his best team in Austin with a #3 preseason ranking. The offense would struggle, with no QB or RB really separating themselves, but the defense was one of the best in Longhorn history. With an 8-0 start, they gave up just 7.0 PPG, with wins of 20-7 over #5 Auburn, 28-16 over #8 Oklahoma, and 15-12 over #9 SMU! The remaining games were less impressive, beating TCU/Baylor/Texas A&M by a combined 89-48 score. It was #2 Texas against #7 Georgia in the Cotton Bowl. Texas held Georgia to just 215 yards of offense, but Texas scored a season-low 9 points in a 9-10 loss, knocking Texas from their #2 spot. Later that night, Miami (FL) would beat #1 Nebraska 31-30, giving Miami the national title with an 11-1 record. If Texas just scores 2 more points against Georgia? National Champions.
The offense only scored 24.1 PPG, but the defense made them national title contenders with just 9.5 PPG allowed. QB Robert Moerschell threw 5 TD 6 INT, Todd Dodge 2 TD 4 INT, and Rick McIvor at least came on strong at the end of the year, throwing 5 TD 1 INT. No player ran for over 500 yards. Everywhere else? All-Americans as far as the eye can see. The offense? Consensus All-American OG Doug Dawson, 1st Team All-American C Mike Ruether. The defense? Consensus All-American LB Jeff Leiding, consensus All-American DB Jerry Gray, and 1st Team All-American S Mossy Cade. Special teams too? 3rd Team All-American K Jeff Ward, and 2nd Team All-American P John Teltschik. At least 2 AAs in every phase of the game, with 7 total.
1983 Texas is my 160th best team since 1983.
3. 2009 (13-1 overall, 8-0 Big 12)
Again, like 1983, SO CLOSE. QB Colt McCoy returned for his senior season, looking to potentially win both a national title and Heisman after finishing #4 and 2nd in voting, respectively, the previous season. It was a great time to be a Texas fan. In the season opener they set a Texas state attendance record of 101,096. A few weeks later, the Dallas Cowboys opened up…
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