Top-ranked Texas likes the view from No. 1 but is focused on long season ahead

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Top-ranked Texas likes the view from No. 1 but is focused on long season ahead

2026-09-15 03:22 Last Updated At：03:30

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas has seen the view from No. 1 and the Longhorns know the fall from the college football summit can be hard.

The goal now is to make sure they get more than a fleeting glimpse from the top.

Texas (2-0) jumped to No. 1 after a wild 24-23 victory over Ohio State, which knocked the Buckeyes from No. 1 to No. 6. The Longhorns play UTSA this week before starting Southeastern Conference play Sept. 26 at No. 15 Tennessee.

“A week ago, the narrative was we can’t win the big game,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday. “The opinion now is we’re the best team in the country, allegedly, and so everybody is patting us on the back."

And he cautioned his team about getting carried away with it.

“This is the third straight year we’ve been ranked No. 1 at some part of the season,” Sarkisian said. “I don’t know how we handled it. And I don't know how worthy we were of those rankings, of the opinions of others.”

The Longhorns look worthy of the top spot for now. How things shake out by season's end is yet to be seen.

In 2024, Texas rose to No. 1 for the first time since 2008. The Longhorns stayed there for a month before losing to Georgia. They wouldn't get back to No. 1, but made it all the way to the College Football Playoff semifinals before losing to eventual national champion Ohio State.

The fall last year was much farther and much harder.

Texas started the season No. 1 only to lose the first game at Ohio State. They were 3-2 a few weeks later and unranked. A 9-3 regular season left the Longhorns out of the playoff.

Senior linebacker Justin Cryer, a transfer from Florida State, seemed unimpressed with life at No. 1.

“It’s cool to post on Instagram or whatever,” Cryer said. “We have 10 more games to play.”

That's where quarterback Arch Manning said the focus should be. He remembers the quick fall from No. 1 last season and getting left out of the postseason.

“The rankings don't really matter until the playoffs,” Manning said. “We've got a lot to prove.”

Officials say 4 people were hospitalized after a crane collapsed at a Miami construction site

MIAMI (AP) — An 85-foot (26-meter) crane towering over a construction site in an upscale Miami neighborhood toppled onto a passing vehicle Monday morning, setting it on fire and injuring the driver and three construction workers, officials said.

The collapse occurred shortly after 8 a.m. in the city’s Brickell neighborhood. Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia said at a news conference Monday that he was thankful no one was killed in the crane collapse and car fire.

“I’ve been on the fire department for 28 years; when you see the scene, it’s impressive," Hevia said. “The fact that we had four victims, and they were all able to be extricated or self-extricate themselves with minor injuries is a remarkable day for them.”

A woman driving on a street next to the construction site saw the crane begin to fall over, Hevia said.

“To be able to see the crane falling, pull the car in reverse and pop out of the back while the car’s on fire, really incredible,” he said, adding that the crane also crushed two unoccupied parked cars but fell on a storage container with two construction workers inside.

The two workers who had been trapped, along with the crane operator who managed to jump out as the crane was tipping over, were all transported to a nearby trauma center with minor injuries, Hevia said. The woman driving the car also had minor injuries and was taken to a different hospital. Officials haven’t identified the injured.

“It was a very complex scene with a fire that was occurring; our crews were putting out the fire and our technical rescue team working simultaneously to cut through the conex box, the construction box, and they were able to successfully extricate the two victims,” Hevia said, confirming that all other workers at the construction site were accounted for.

Officials have not said what caused the crane, specifically a piling rig, to topple, and Hevia said the collapse is under investigation. A piling rig usually shares the same base as a traditional crane, but its upper part is designed to drive columns deep into the ground to support large structures.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Miami-Dade County Unsafe Structures personnel responded, officials said. Firefighters remained to monitor and control a fuel spill and prevent further spread until a specialized mitigation crew arrived.

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Fischer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.