Following the 28-21 defeat of the No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl two years ago, the Texas Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger proclaimed “we’re back.”
A similar statement was made in 2016 following a thrilling overtime victory against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. ESPN play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore again proclaimed “Texas is back folks!”
Narrator voices chimes in, they were definitely not back.
The Longhorns finished 5-7 in that 2016 season after defeating Notre Dame, although Texas began the season 2-0. They finished 3-7 over the remaining 10 games including a 24-21 loss to Kansas, the lone loss to the Jayhawks since 1938.
After posting a 10-4 record throughout the 2018 season — which included a trip to the Big 12 Championship — the Longhorns have been 14-8 in the 22 games since. In those two seasons, they have been swept by the Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Christian Horned Frogs, and the Iowa State Cyclones. The primary reason that the Longhorns aren’t back is that they are consistently losing against the top teams in the conference.
Texas is 0-6 against the top three programs, against the rest of the conference they are 10-1. Their lone loss was to the Baylor Bears last season, the team that went to the Big 12 Championship. Beating the teams you should is always positive but they need to beat Texas Christian and Iowa State as well. That has been a problem as of late.
Longhorns Wire staff each chime in on what Texas needs to do to be ‘back’ on the next page.