A grand total of three first place votes are the only things that happen to separate the Texas Longhorns and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. But when you do the math for the purposes of the ESPN.com/USA Softball college softball poll, you’ll find that the Red Raiders and the Longhorns are functionally viewed as equal teams right now.
That’s because Texas Tech is sharing territory with the Longhorns. In the preseason college softball poll, the two teams are both sitting at No. 1 in the country as they’re tied for the top spot. It’s goofy, it’s clunky, and it might be the perfect sort of thing that this Texas Tech softball needed: a good, regionally based rivalry against a really solid foe.
While the Red Raiders and the Longhorns are in different conferences these days, Texas Tech and Texas got to play a few times last season. And thus a decent rivalry for last season. Not it looks like it might continue.
ESPN.com/USA Softball preseason poll puts Texas Tech and the Texas Longhorns in a tie for No. 1 entering 2026 season
https://x.com/TexasTechSB/status/2013680366347858341?s=20
Here’s what the full top 25 looks like according to the folks voting on the ESPN.com/USA Softball preseason poll:
- No. 1 - Texas Longhorns
- No. 1 - Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Tennessee Lady Vols
- Oregon Ducks
- Florida Gators
- Florida State Seminoles
- Arkansas Razorbacks
- Nebraska Cornhuskers
- UCLA Bruins
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Clemson Tigers
- LSU Tigers
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Stanford Cardinal
- Arizona Wildcats
- Duke Blue Devils
- Oklahoma State Cowgirls
- Virginia Tech Hokies
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Liberty Flames
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Washington Huskies
It’s so fun to see the Red Raiders ranked so high, but the fact that Texas and Texas Tech are tied at the top feels a little poetic or ironic or something.
I mean, the fact that the two teams are voted into being functionally equals to start the 2026 softball season points to just how much the Red Raiders have improved and how quickly they pulled off those drastic improvements. Now it’s just worth wondering how long it’ll take for Texas Tech to actually win a national title.