There is no better case scenario than going undefeated and winning a national championship, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for that when it comes to Texas football.
They may get there one day, but this program needs to focus on competing within their conference before they ascend to being one of the nation’s four best teams.
However, that doesn’t mean that they can’t get off to a hot start and make people think they are back. The best case scenario right off the bat, is if the Longhorns somehow manufacture a win against a perennial playoff team in Alabama, who will likely be hungrier than ever coming off a loss in the championship. It took years for a Nick Saban former assistant to best him head to head, and it happened for the first and second time last season.
Texas could have a dream stretch in their first half the season and win seven straight. I expect this team to drop multiple games during the season, but they have the talent and have likely learned from 2021. I see this scenario having Texas win their first seven games, which would include wins over teams such as Alabama, Oklahoma, and Iowa State.
This would likely generate an insane amount of buzz around the program, and attract recruits to Texas. This team still has its flaws, and are destined to fall on their face as they have in the past.
Oklahoma State was a very tough matchup for them, and the Longhorns may start to feel a little too confident by Week 8 and drop that game. This would put them at 7-1, which would still be fantastic start all things considered.
They then have stretch that I see them splitting at worst. The stretch goes as follows:
- @ Kansas State
- TCU
- @ Kansas
- Baylor
Even with dropping two out of the final four games, that puts Texas at 9-3 to finish the regular season and would surely give them a chance to play in the Big 12 Championship.
A season this good would mean that whoever the quarterback is, whether it is Ewers or Hudson Card, had a phenomenal season. It would also likely mean that Bijan Robinson goes on an absolute terror.
The thing about this Texas team is that they have the talent as individuals, it is just a matter of putting together good team performances and not shooting themselves in the foot. Many of the losses and mistakes in 2021 were self inflicted, so if the Longhorns can eliminate those mistakes while also improving greatly in the trenches, there may actually be some validity to the Texas is back talk.