The memory is still vivid for Texas fans: Vince Young slicing through the USC defense on fourth down in the Rose Bowl, delivering the Longhorns their fourth national championship.
Over two decades later, that 2005 title remains the last one hanging inside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. And it’s the reason Texas sits in a frustrating spot in college football’s hierarchy — good enough to be mentioned, not quite decorated enough to be crowned.
When you rank programs by national championships since the Associated Press Poll began in 1936, Texas lands in the second tier: the new bloods, not the blue bloods.
The blue blood club
Seven programs have separated themselves with at least five poll-era national titles, combining for 53 championships:
- Alabama (13): 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020
- Notre Dame (9): 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1988
- Ohio State (7): 1942, 1954, 1957, 1968, 2002, 2014, 2024
- Oklahoma (7): 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000
- USC (7): 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978, 2003, 2004
- Miami (5): 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 2001
- Nebraska (5): 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997
Note the name that stings most for Longhorns fans: Oklahoma.
The Sooners, Texas’ oldest and fiercest rival, have seven poll-era championships — three more than the Longhorns. The programs still share a conference after moving to the SEC together, but only one entered that league with blue blood credentials.
Where Texas fits
The Longhorns sit among the new bloods — programs with three or four titles since 1936:
- Georgia (4): 1942, 1980, 2021, 2022
- LSU (4): 1958, 2003, 2007, 2019
- Minnesota (4): 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960
- Texas (4): 1963, 1969, 1970, 2005
- Clemson (3): 1981, 2016, 2018
- Florida (3): 1996, 2006, 2008
- Florida State (3): 1993, 1999, 2013
- Michigan (3): 1948, 1997, 2023
Texas won under Darrell Royal in the 1960s and 1970 and under Mack Brown in 2005. Another title — a fifth — would change the conversation entirely.
The path forward
Getting there in the SEC is a different assignment than getting there in the Big 12.
Alabama and LSU, two of the eight “new bloods” or higher-tier programs Texas now shares a conference with, know how to close out title runs. Georgia has done it twice in the past five years.
Steve Sarkisian’s job is straightforward, if not easy: Make Texas a program that can finish.
That means recruiting at the level of Georgia and Alabama, developing quarterbacks capable of winning in Baton Rouge and Tuscaloosa, and lifting a national championship trophy that moves the Longhorns from the conversation about college football’s elite into the group that defines it.
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Mike Garbett is a content specialist working with McClatchy’s Content Innovation Lab.
This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists.