Texas Longhorns Move Up to No. 10 in the AP Top 25; Houston Cougars Sit at No. 17
The Associated Press poll released Sunday afternoon lifted Texas one place to No. 10 after its 31-3 win over Mississippi State - and confirmed the Houston Cougars at No. 17, the spot the projections had them holding through their bye week.
HOUSTON - Texas is back in the top 10. The Longhorns moved up one spot, from No. 11 to No. 10, in the Associated Press Top 25 released Sunday afternoon, the reward for a two-week climb out of a two-game losing streak: a win over then-No. 7 Ole Miss last week, followed by a convincing 31-3 win over Mississippi State on Saturday night.
The ranking sets up the kind of November game the poll exists to preview. Texas travels next to Missouri, and the Tigers moved up four spots to No. 19 in the same poll - a top-20 road matchup for a Longhorns team that is one of four SEC programs in the top 10 this week and playing its way back into the conference race it stumbled in a month ago.
Houston's line in the poll is confirmation rather than movement. The full Top 25 places the Cougars at No. 17 - exactly where the week's projections had them through their bye - as they turn toward Saturday's home game - Cincinnati, beaten 49-25 by Utah on Saturday, comes to Houston on November 7 - with a top-20 ranking now official rather than projected.
Polls in November are standings with better lighting: they decide nothing, and they shape everything about how the final month is read. For the two Texas programs in this one, the numbers say the same thing in different positions - Texas climbing at No. 10 with a ranked road test next, Houston holding at No. 17 with its season in its own hands.
