Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
College Football News recently ranked the top 10 players on Texas’ roster ahead of the 2022 season. A couple names may surprise you.
Second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian certainly strengthened Texas’ roster this offseason. Continue reading “Texas’ top 10 players entering the 2022 season per College Football News”
Texas football schedule. The 2022 schedule with 3 things to know
Texas football schedule 2022: What are the big games on the Texas schedule and what are 3 things to know?
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f1343a1wt7q817p7 player_id=none image=https://collegefootballnews.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
Texas has a few tough matchups in 2022.
The Longhorns are in dire need of a bounce-back season after going 5-7 in 2021. Continue reading “Texas’ 2022 football games ranked by difficulty”
According to 247Sports, Texas has one of the toughest schedules in the nation this season, take a look to see where they rank.
There are simply no gimme or cupcake games on Texas’ schedule for the 2021 season.
The Longhorns strength of schedule was rated in the top-25 last season, but this calendar year saw the strength of schedule rating jump to the ninth toughest schedule in the country according to 247Sports. Texas also has the second toughest schedule in the Big 12 behind…checks list… Kansas. The Jayhawks simply cannot catch a break as they go into 2021 with the third toughest schedule in the nation.
Typically teams in the Power Five start their season off with what can be considered a “cupcake” game in which they play a much smaller school just to shake off the rust and beat up on someone who isn’t their own team. For Texas, they will be battle tested by the time they dive into Big 12 play.
Let’s take a look at who 247Sports views as having the toughest schedule in the nation.
Beating up on a lesser opponent the first couple weeks is a luxury that the Longhorns will not have in 2021 as they open the Steve Sarkisian era against Louisiana, one of the best Group of Five teams in the nation who finished the 2020 season at 10-1 and 19th in the nation.
Texas also has to take on former Southwest Conference foe Arkansas and likely has one of the toughest stretches in the month of October where they will face TCU, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks. In 2020, the Longhorns finished 1-2 against these three teams, only beating Oklahoma State in overtime.
247Sports definitely understands how competitive the Big 12 conference will be this season and believes that Texas will need to have a stellar year in order to meet the lofty expectations of fans and media members.
247Sports recently ranked the most intriguing college football matchups for Week 1. Louisiana at Texas was among the top five.
The Steve Sarkisian era at Texas will officially kick off on Sept. 4 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Sarkisian’s squad will be tested right off the bat with a rising Louisiana team. The Rajin’ Cajuns concluded the 2020 season with a 10-1 overall record, including the defeat of one of Texas’ primary Big 12 opponents in Iowa State.
Louisiana has appeared in many way-too-early top 25 rankings for the 2021 season, ESPN lists them as high as No. 16 overall. According to 247Sports, Texas and Louisiana will be one of the most intriguing games to watch throughout college football’s slate of Week 1 matchups.
Steve Sarkisian won’t start his Texas tenure with a loss to Louisiana, will he? One thing is for certain — the Longhorns won’t take the Ragin’ Cajuns lightly given what Billy Napier’s program has been able to accomplish over the past two seasons. An “upset” win over Texas would certainly make poll voters and the Playoff selection committee turns their heads toward the Group of 5 ranks and could go a long way in determining Louisiana’s New Year’s Six hopes.
Whether it’s the quality matchup in itself or the excitement surrounding the Sarkisian era in Austin, it will surely be an exciting atmosphere with no shortage of storylines.
Louisiana at Texas landed at No. 4 overall, while the top three matchups included Penn State at Wisconsin, Miami vs Alabama, and Georgia vs Clemson.
If the Longhorns hope to compete for a Big 12 title under a nearly entirely new coaching staff in year one, they cannot afford to lose any of their three nonconference games. On top of that, Texas will likely only be able to lose one conference game, at best, in order to stay atop the Big 12 rankings.
247Sports recently ranked the most intriguing college football matchups for Week 1. Louisiana at Texas was among the top five.
The Steve Sarkisian era at Texas will officially kick off on Sept. 4 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Sarkisian’s squad will be tested right off the bat with a rising Louisiana team. The Rajin’ Cajuns concluded the 2020 season with a 10-1 overall record, including the defeat of one of Texas’ primary Big 12 opponents in Iowa State.
Louisiana has appeared in many way-too-early top 25 rankings for the 2021 season, ESPN lists them as high as No. 16 overall. According to 247Sports, Texas and Louisiana will be one of the most intriguing games to watch throughout college football’s slate of Week 1 matchups.
Steve Sarkisian won’t start his Texas tenure with a loss to Louisiana, will he? One thing is for certain — the Longhorns won’t take the Ragin’ Cajuns lightly given what Billy Napier’s program has been able to accomplish over the past two seasons. An “upset” win over Texas would certainly make poll voters and the Playoff selection committee turns their heads toward the Group of 5 ranks and could go a long way in determining Louisiana’s New Year’s Six hopes.
Whether it’s the quality matchup in itself or the excitement surrounding the Sarkisian era in Austin, it will surely be an exciting atmosphere with no shortage of storylines.
Louisiana at Texas landed at No. 4 overall, while the top three matchups included Penn State at Wisconsin, Miami vs Alabama, and Georgia vs Clemson.
If the Longhorns hope to compete for a Big 12 title under a nearly entirely new coaching staff in year one, they cannot afford to lose any of their three nonconference games. On top of that, Texas will likely only be able to lose one conference game, at best, in order to stay atop the Big 12 rankings.
247Sports predicted where each Big 12 team will pick up their first loss. For UT, the second game of the year against Arkansas was the pick.
Losses are inevitable in college football unless you are Alabama, Clemson, or Ohio State.
No Big 12 team has gone undefeated since Texas won the national championship against USC in 2005. Oklahoma nearly pulled it off with Baker Mayfield in 2017 but lost to Georgia in the Rose Bowl.
247Sports predicted where each team in the Big 12 will pick up their first loss. For Texas, the second game of the year against Arkansas was the pick.
There’s not a lot of reason right now to doubt that Steve Sarkisian can’t get the job done at Texas. That being said, it’s not going to be an overnight job. It’s going to take the former Alabama offensive coordinator some time to adjust and get things going and a road test into SEC territory is going to be one of the toughest tests Sarkisian goes through in his first year. Arkansas appears to be going in the right direction under Sam Pittman right now and has a great chance to get a huge win over Texas before Sarkisian establishes himself.
Picking up a loss to Arkansas would not be surprising at all. Arkansas has been the bottom dwellers of the SEC for a few years now but overperformed in Sam Pittman’s first year. Three losses came by a combined eight points.
Mix in a hostile crowd at 100% capacity gearing up for an old Southwest Conference rivalry and Texas will definitely be on upset alert.
Even with an early loss to Arkansas, 247Sports goes on to predict Texas will win the Red River Shootout against Oklahoma. At first thought, this would be a Tom Herman special. Losing to an inferior team as a favorite, only to go on and beat one of the best Oklahoma teams in over a decade.
The Sooners will be the pick to win the Big 12 and might actually go unbeaten. But the Texas game with a new head coach in charge will likely be the toughest test they face in the first six weeks and perhaps all season. Away from home, Oklahoma might get tripped up.
Trading an early-season loss for a guaranteed win in Dallas is usually a trade most people would take. However, Sarkisian needs to make it through nonconference play without a loss to get his tenure rolling. Taking your chances against Oklahoma would be worth the risk.
On the same day the Big 10 and the Pac 12 canceled their fall seasons, the Big 12 has released their revised schedule. You can view it here.
On the same day the Big Ten and the Pac-12 canceled their 2020 fall seasons, the Big 12 has released their revised schedule. Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram first reported the conference could release the new schedule on Tuesday night.
Going into the release we already knew The Longhorns’ home and away opponents. Baylor, Iowa State, TCU, and West Virginia were going to be traveling to Austin, while Texas would play Kansas State, Texas Tech, Kansas, and Oklahoma State on the road.
For now, the annual Red River Shootout is going to be played at the historic Cotton Bowl in Dallas. That is the way it should be and both Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte and Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione should do everything in their power to keep it in Dallas.
Here's the new Big 12 conference schedule pic.twitter.com/KlIZJJTQOd
— Max Olson (@max_olson) August 12, 2020
Here is Texas’ full new schedule:
A couple things of note in the new schedule.
First, there are two bye weeks for every team across the conference. Texas will play Baylor and travel to Kansas off of their two bye weeks. The Jayhawks are the only team that will have a bye before facing the Longhorns.
Second, there will be no back to back road games for Texas this season. Last season, the Longhorns faced Iowa State and Baylor in consecutive weeks on the road, losing both.
No official news has been announced about nonconference play just yet. 247Sports reported UTEP was still the Longhorns’ singular nonconference opponent.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
Outside of Oklahoma, which teams in the Big 12 could potentially surprise Texas?
There’s always a few teams that unexpectedly cause problems for Texas. Continue reading “Three potential trap games for Texas football in 2020”
