Not everyone believes Texas is a national contender this season.
Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt seems to be one of the national media analysts who isn’t sold on the Longhorns through the first three weeks of the season.
Here’s what Klatt had to say on The Joel Klatt Show this week.
“How about Texas feeling big in their britches? Texas fans, you know how you should feel right now, even after that big win over Alabama and Tuscaloosa — which, by the way, doesn’t quite feel the same after what they did at USF. But you know how you should feel, Longhorn fans? Forever cautious. Because your team, like it or not, plays to the level of their competition constantly. Did again last week.”
Klatt further iterated that if Texas plays down to the level of their opponent each week, much like they did the first three quarters of the Wyoming game, the Longhorns could suffer unexpected losses in conference play.
“Last year, you beat the doors off of Oklahoma. They went to Texas Tech and lost and they continued to play one score games. And inevitably, you put yourself in that position that often, you will lose some of them. If they continue to do that this year, they will lose a game that they shouldn’t.”
He later touched on players taking leadership and playing to the high standards expected of the program.
“So, forever cautious is how I would be viewing this team if I was a Texas fan. They’ve got to find some sort of internal motivation and I even hesitate to use the term motivation, because it’s not motivation. It’s a standard. Texas has got to find a leadership group on the team. By the way, this can’t be the coaches. This has got to be the players. I’m talking to you, Texas players. You’ve got to have an internal standard where you don’t play to the level of your competition. It can’t be just about the win or loss. It has to be about your standard.”
Texas opens Big 12 conference play on Sept. 23 against Baylor.
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