The No. 1 Texas Longhorns have played the toughest schedule in the nation so far. Texas has hosted then No. 1 Ohio State and have traveled to then No. 14 Tennessee. The Longhorns are a perfect 4-0 so far this year.
Today, UT gets a much-needed bye week before taking on rival Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl next week in Dallas. It hasn’t always been pretty, but Texas is undefeated with two tough challenges behind them.
The Longhorns were down by 20 to the Buckeyes at the start of the fourth quarter in their Week 2 clash. But Arch Manning led the Texas offense to 21 unanswered points and the Longhorns defense shut down Julian Sayin and the Ohio State offense late to get a 24-23 win.
Last weekend, Texas were the ones holding off a comeback. Texas had a comfortable 20-10 lead late in the fourth quarter. Tennessee freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon led the Vols offense on its only touchdown drive of the game with a minute and a half in the game. The Vols recovered the onside kick, which the SEC later admitted was illegal, and were set up well to tie the score, or even win the game late. But EDGE Colin Simmons and the Texas defense stopped any hope the Vols had of scoring and the Horns escaped Knoxville with a 20-17 win.
Next week is the annual Red River Shootout against the rival Oklahoma Sooners. Most experts thought the Sooners would be as good, if not better, than last season that saw the Sooners make the College Football Playoff. Something Texas didn’t do. OU was 9-3 last year, with losses to Texas, Ole Miss and Alabama in the CFP. But the Sooners are not as good as last year, especially quarterback John Mateer. OU was beaten by a very suspect Michigan team and where humiliated at Georgia last week. OU barely beat lowly New Mexico in Week 2. Of course, all bets are off in a rivalry game. We’ll see what happens when the Texas season resumes next Saturday at 2:30 p. m. CT.
While you can enjoy your weekend with a little less stress with the Texas Longhorns not taking the field this Saturday, quite a few of their upcoming opponents will be in action. Catching a glimpse of the opposing talent could be very telling for the rest of the Horns’ season. So, as Texas enjoys its bye ahead of the Red River Rivalry next week, here are three games that could propel the Horns’ future opponents into a strong showing for the rest of the season:
While neither of these long-lived rivals are ranked, the slugfest that is about to take place between the Arkansas Razorbacks and Texas A&M Aggies will feature two teams that are fighting to keep their seasons from complete and utter disasters. There isn’t much better for motivation than pure and utter desperation. With both teams already sitting with two losses this season, that’s exactly what they will be playing with. Whichever team comes out on top could carry a little momentum into the rest of the year, earning a win over an old Southwest Conference opponent. However, the momentum would have to carry through to the end of the season, with Texas hosting Arkansas in the penultimate regular-season game and visiting Texas A&M in the final regular-season matchup of the year.
While Texas gets a break from facing the Alabama Crimson Tide, they will host the Mississippi State Bulldogs this season, and that team has been shockingly dominant this year. The Dawgs have started 4-0 under the leadership of quarterback “Super” Kamario Taylor and head coach Jeff Lebby. Mississippi State already gave the Horns enough trouble last season, but a win over the Tide to start the year 5-0 could give that team an unimaginable amount of momentum and steamroll the Bulldogs right through the Longhorns.
In the middle of the Week 5 slate is a matchup that will also feature two of Texas’s upcoming opponents: the white-hot Florida Gators and the nearly-flawless Missouri Tigers. The Gators have surged back to the front of the college football world behind first-year head coach Jon Sumrall and have started SEC play 2-0. Meanwhile, even after starting the year with a 3-0 record, the Tigers struggled to find consistency against Mississippi State, losing their first conference game of the year. This could be a game that continues Florida’s momentum into the next millennium (not literally) or hands Missouri an opportunity to right the ship and send a “pretender” Gators squad back down the rankings. Either way, Texas has to face both of these top-25 teams down the road, and the victory going in either direction could be all the fuel the winning team needs to topple another top team in the SEC, like the Horns.
