Texas fans are still awaiting a chance to see and believe that their beloved Longhorns are “back.”
Seasons filled with letdowns and inconsistencies have become the norm in Austin, and that was no different when Steve Sarkisian took over as the head coach in 2021.
Now, with Sarkisian in his second season and a horribly flawed roster getting a major facelift thanks to a strong recruiting class and great transfer additions, the Longhorns are looking to turn their misfortunes around.
However, they will not have an easy schedule as the Longhorns are again facing one of the toughest slates in the country according to ESPN’s FPI rankings. Texas came in at No. 14 in terms of strength of schedule.
This comes as no surprise to anyone. When you look at Texas’ schedule there seems to just be an endless stretch of difficult games with some that include Alabama, followed by what will be a frisky matchup with UTSA.
Texas will then dive into Big 12 play for a couple weeks with matchups against Texas Tech and West Virginia, followed by the most important gauntlet of the season with meetings with Oklahoma, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State.
In recent years, especially last season, Texas seems to have one game that really dictates how the rest of the season goes, such as the loss to LSU in 2019. Last season in particular, the moment that defined the season was the horribly blown 20-point lead against rival Oklahoma. It seemed to put Texas into a never ending stage of shock, as they would go on to lose the next five en route to one of the longest losing streaks in program history.
We will see if Sarkisian’s culture has finally been embraced among the players, and if the new additions will add the support that the team needs.
Texas still has position battles to settle, and are awaiting for more players to get on campus, but the Longhorns will need all the reps they can get before taking on the gauntlet that is their 2022 schedule.