The season Texas has been building toward finally arrives Saturday afternoon, when the No. 5 Longhorns open against Texas State in Austin.
It is a rare meeting, and an even rarer one given the geography. The schools are only 30 miles apart on I-35, but they have not played since 1930. This will be just the second time they have ever lined up against each other.
For Texas, the opener comes with all the weight that has been hanging over the program since 2009. The Longhorns are coming off a 10-3 season and bring in a roster that features Arch Manning at quarterback, preseason first-team All-America wide receiver Cam Coleman and edge rusher Colin Simmons, who is projected to go in the first round of next year’s NFL draft. That combination has pushed Texas into the small group of teams considered capable of chasing a national title, something the Longhorns last won in the 2005 season and last played for in 2009.
Still, Steve Sarkisian is keeping the message simple. His team has to prove everything on the field, and it has to do it in pieces.
"We are locked in on that first opponent -- this year it happens to be Texas State," Sarkisian said Monday. "We are so zoned in, locked in and ready to put our best foot forward, whether schematically, whether it's who's playing, whether it's how they play, (or) what we ask them to do.
"Come Saturday, we're going to come out of that tunnel, and it's going to say Texas on our chest. There's so much that embodies that. We take a lot of pride in that in the way we play the game, the way we carry ourselves in game."
Sarkisian also said Manning has taken a clear step forward this offseason. In fact, the quarterback is now comfortable enough to push back on plays Sarkisian wants on the call sheet before games.
"I want to make sure that we're calling plays for him that he believes in, that he has great faith in," Sarkisian said. "Just because it's on the call sheet doesn't mean I have to call it. I want to call the things that he really likes and the things that he feels comfortable with."
Texas may also look different on defense, where Will Muschamp is back for his second stint as the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator. Colin Simmons said the tone has changed immediately.
"Muschamp comes in each and every day and sets the tone," Simmons said. "This is my first year seeing this type of tone.
Aggressive. You're going to be on your feet.
You're going to be 10 toes down, on your feet."
Texas State arrives with momentum of its own after going 7-6 last season and rolling past Rice in the Armed Forces Bowl. The Bobcats are now part of the new-look Pac-12 Conference and still have a dangerous dual-threat quarterback in Brad Jackson, explosive receivers and an offense built by head coach GJ Kinne, whose approach was shaped after learning from offensive guru Art Briles, now the head coach at Eastern New Mexico.
"(We've) really just built this offense the way we want to, and every year it's evolved," Kinne said. "Feel like it puts a lot of pressure on the defense.
'What are you trying to take away? How can we attack you?'
Combine that with tempo and some different wrinkles and it's been a pretty good offense, top-five offense, the last four years."
If Texas State wants to hang around, its defense has to hold up better than it did a year ago. The Bobcats allowed 383 total yards and 29 points per game last season, and they gave up 40 or more points in four losses.
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