Former Texas football coach Tom Herman leaves UT out of top 5 in final coaching poll

The final coaches poll is out, and Texas finished fourth among all college programs for their run to the College Football Playoff Semifinals.

Steve Sarkisian's staff led one of the best defenses in the country along with an offense that had its high points, including a dominant win over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship Game. Impressive work to most coaches, but five college coaches had the Longhorns out of their top five.

One of them was former Texas and current Florida Atlantic coach Tom Herman.

Herman had Michigan and Washington atop the list, with Georgia coming in third, Alabama fourth and Florida State fifth. The former Longhorn had the Bulldogs ranking surprisingly high, considering Texas beat Alabama by double digits and the Crimson Tide defeated Georgia in the SEC Title game.

Texas lost to Washington in the Sugar Bowl on a last-minute drive despite being outplayed for most of the game. The Huskies then proceeded to get soundly beaten by Michigan in the national title game while Alabama lost in overtime, perhaps lending some logic to Herman ranking them over Texas.

Herman coached the Longhorns for four seasons, being fired in 2021. Herman went 32-18 at UT but never won a Big 12 championship like Sarkisian did in 2023. Texas went 4-0 in bowl games under his watch but were 9-10 against top-25 opponents and 1-4 against Oklahoma.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Tom Herman leaves Texas football out of top 5 in final coaching poll