By Jimmy Burch
jburch@star-telegram.com
TCU and Texas were the only teams from Texas to earn spots in today’s pre-season college football rankings released by The Associated Press.
AP voters placed the Horned Frogs at No. 20 to start the season. Texas checked in at No. 15.
The top spot went to Southern California, which received 25 of 60 first-place ballots from members of the voting panel. The Trojans edged No. 2 Alabama, the defending national champion, and No. 3 LSU, which played Alabama in last year’s BCS title game, in the opening poll. Alabama received 17 first-place votes. LSU received 16.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Oklahoma, the top-rated Big 12 school, followed by Oregon, Georgia, Florida State, Michigan, South Carolina and Arkansas. OU and Michigan each received one first-place vote.
TCU, Texas and Oklahoma were among six Big 12 schools in the pre-season poll. The others were No. 11 West Virginia, No. 19 Oklahoma State and No. 22 Kansas State. The Big 12, with six, joined the Southeastern Conference by placing the most schools of any league in the initial poll.
The Southeastern Conference, home of college football’s last six national champions, landed five of its six teams in the Top 10: No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 LSU, No. 6 Georgia, No. 9 South Carolina and No. 10 Arkansas.
Three other teams from Texas _ Baylor, Texas A&M and Houston _ received votes but not enough to crack the Top 25.
Twitter: @Jimmy_Burch
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