Raise the Flag

Dallas Cowboys and Austin schools team up for girls' flag football league

Girls from Travis Early College High School at the AISD flag football tournament.

Photo by JJ Maldonado

On Saturday, May 17, hundreds of girls from Austin Independent School District (AISD) played in the school district's inaugural flag football tournament at Burger Stadium. The tournament itself was the kick-off for a new league, offering high school girls a chance to compete in the sport for the first time.

The tournament, which consisted of squads from a dozen AISD high schools, got the league started on a good note, according to AISD senior media relations specialist JJ Maldonado.

"We had over 225 girls out on the field," adds league organizer and area athletic coordinator Crystal Victorino. "This has been an incredible experience so far."

Flag football has been growing in popularity in recent years, particularly amongst female players at youth and high school levels. This is in part due to the NFL itself, which has quietly been working on the sidelines since 2016, encouraging girls to play flag football. In fact, the Dallas Cowboys and quarterback Dak Prescott partnered with AISD and 11 other Texas school districts earlier this year to create this girls' flag football league.

"[The Cowboys] have been vital to the success and growth of girls flag football throughout the state of Texas, so partnering with such big advocates, who are aligned with our AISD Athletics mission to advance gender equity and representation, just made perfect sense," says Victorino.

Organizers hope that playing the sport will teach girls lessons beyond the field and might lead to some professional opportunities in the future.

“The life lessons and values these young ladies will learn from the game of football extend well beyond touchdowns and teamwork,” Dallas Cowboys co-owner and chief brand officer Charlotte Jones said in a press release earlier this year. “We are also thrilled that with girls’ flag football becoming an emerging sport at the collegiate level, the game can now provide these young women a path to continuing their education at a higher level as well.”

Even though this league isn't yet recognized by Texas' University Interscholastic League (UIL) as an official high school sport, flag football's growing popularity nationwide may mean that it may be someday soon. It's now a varsity sport in 14 states and at more than 50 colleges and universities, including Austin's Concordia University Texas. Plus, men's and women's flag football is set to debut at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Players from Travis Early College High School Ashley Deleon and Annalie Barrientos at the tournament. Photo by JJ Maldonado

"It means a lot to me," says sophomore Annalie Barrientos from Travis Early College High School, who played in the tournament on Saturday. "I think it's cool that we're out here practicing, trying to learn a new sport."

Another sophomore from Travis Early College, Ashley Deleon, says, "[This] means everything. I feel like it'll help us expand out, get women their opportunities, get girls to play, and show what they can do."

Deleon says she got interested watching the boys play football for their school, and always used to be on the sidelines cheering for them. But now, "they're cheering for us," she says. "That's what motivated me to play."

Up next for AISD girls' flag football are the playoffs, taking place May 23 at Burger Stadium at 5:30 pm.

"We would love for more of the community to come out and support our girls in this new sport," says Victorino.

For AISD girls who missed their chance to participate this year, Victorino says they should show up and try out next year. More information about next year's season will be released with the start of the new school year.

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Global acclaim

UT Austin ranks No. 1 in Texas on new list of world’s best universities

Photo by Dan Dennis on Unsplash

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Twelve Texas universities show up in a new global ranking of the world's best universities, with the University of Texas at Austin leading schools in the Lone Star State.

UT Austin lands at No. 1 in Texas, No. 20 in the U.S., and No. 68 globally in QS World University Rankings 2026. Four more schools in the University of Texas system also make the list.

QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), a London-based provider of higher education data and analytics, compiles the top universities list each year.

The list contains more than 1,500 universities from around the world. Factors used to rank the schools include academic reputation; employer reputation; faculty-student ratio; faculty research; and international research, students, and faculty.

In all, 192 U.S. universities made the list — the most of any country. Topping the global list is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

“The results show that while U.S. higher education remains the global leader, its dominance is increasingly challenged by fast-rising emerging systems,” says the QS World University Rankings report. “A decade ago, 32 American universities [were] featured in the world’s top 100; today, that number has dropped to 26, and only 11 of these institutions have improved their position this year.”

UT Austin has been on a roll in regional, national, and international rankings the past year, topping U.S. News' 2025 list of best grad schools and ranking No. 30 nationally among best colleges overall; ranking second best college in Texas on WalletHub's 2025 list; earning two top-10 spots on The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s lists of the best graduate and undergraduate schools; and ranking as the No. 9 top public university in the U.S. by Niche.

The 12 Texas universities that appear in the QS World University Rankings 2026 list are:

University of Texas at Austin, No. 20 in the U.S. and No. 68 in the world (down from No. 66 last year).
Rice University, No. 29 in the U.S. and No. 119 in the world (up from No. 141 last year).
Texas A&M University, No. 32 in the U.S. and No. 144 in the world (down from No. 154 last year).
University of Houston, No. 80 in the U.S. and No. 556 in the world (up from 651-660 last year).
University of Texas at Dallas, No. 85 in the U.S. and No. 597 in the world (down from 596 last year).
Texas Tech University, No. 104 in the U.S. and No. 731-740 in the world (unchanged from last year).
University of North Texas, No. 123 in the U.S. and No. 901-950 in the world (up from 1,001-1,200 last year)
Baylor University, tied for No. 136 in the U.S. and at No. 1,001-1,200 in the world (unchanged from last year).
Southern Methodist University, tied for No. 136 in the U.S. and at 1,001-1,200 in the world (unchanged from last year).
University of Texas Arlington, tied for No. 136 in the U.S. and at 1,001-1,200 in the world (unchanged from last year).
University of Texas at San Antonio, tied for No. 136 in the U.S. and at 1,001-1,200 in the world (unchanged from last year).
University of Texas at El Paso, No. 172 in the U.S. and at 1,201-1,400 in the world (down from 1,001-1,200 last year).

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Raise the Flag

Dallas Cowboys and Austin schools team up for girls' flag football league

Global acclaim

UT Austin ranks No. 1 in Texas on new list of world’s best universities

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