Heading into the 2019 season, expectations were high for Tom Herman and company. The team was coming off an impressive victory over the Georgia Bulldogs in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. It was the first full season with then junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger at the helm but it ended in disappointment. The Longhorns faced off against their bitter rivals in the Big 12 Championship but failed to return in 2019.
The first road block in their season was a loss at home to the eventual National Champions. Even after starting out 2-0 in conference play and 4-1 overall, the lost to their hated rivals, the Sooners. They played an inferior team in Kansas and narrowly escaped. Then lost three of their final five games to close out the season. Not the season anyone expected after winning a New Years Six bowl to finish 2018.
Prior to their Valero Alamo Bowl matchup with the Utah Utes, the coordinators were dismissed. The staff was essentially wiped out following the season. Fast forward to June, there is a bit of excitement with a new offense and defense set to take the field for summer workouts. Expectations are that a better season in 2020 should be on the horizon.
The expectations should be compete for a conference championship and hopefully get an invite to the College Football Playoff. The Sooners have been the only Big 12 team to represent the conference and many Longhorns fans, players and media alike would love to see the burnt orange get their shot. In order to do that they will need to dethrone their enemy to the north.
According to 247Sports who recently put all the title contenders into tiers, they have work to do in order to get there.
Texas and Texas A&M both have an on-paper shot this year. They’re among the most experienced teams in the country with senior quarterbacks leading way.
Texas’ issue is a deeper-than-normal Big 12 and a lack of scheme continuity following an offseason of coaching staff changes. A lot must come together early for the Longhorns with a schedule that’s somewhat frontloaded. Trips to LSU and Kansas State come within the first month followed quickly by a clash with Oklahoma.
The Longhorns have a tough stretch but it isn’t an impossible task. To make a run at a title, they will need to beat teams such as Oklahoma, Clemson, Alabama or Ohio State. Those are the teams in the top two tiers. Running through the first five games unscathed will give them the confidence that they can make that deep run into December.
Texas was listed in tier four with the Aggies, Michigan Wolverines and Auburn Tigers.
- Tier One: Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson
- Tier 1.5: Georgia
- Tier Two: Oklahoma
- Tier Three:Florida, LSU, Notre Dame and Penn State
- Tier Four; Texas, Texas A&M, Michigan and Auburn
- Tier Five: Oregon, USC and Washington
- Tier Six: Oklahoma State, Minnesota and Wisconsin