After a bye week, Texas is heading into the part of the schedule that will tell the real story.
The Longhorns are back on the field Saturday against Oklahoma, and that starts eight straight weeks of football in a stretch that doesn’t offer much room to breathe. Texas has already handled a couple of top-ranked opponents, but the road ahead looks even steeper.
Five of the Longhorns’ final eight regular-season opponents are ranked in the top 25, and nearly all of them are still in College Football Playoff contention. ESPN has Texas ranked second in its strength-of-schedule metric.
That’s the kind of run Steve Sarkisian has been warning about all season. In the SEC, there’s no margin for a sleepy week or a flat start, and Sarkisian has said as much repeatedly. His message is simple: the league will punish anyone who isn’t ready to fight every Saturday.
“You better strap it up every week,” Sarkisian said. “You (have) to be physically tough in this league.
You (have) to be mentally tough in this league because you have to get right back to it each Monday. And you’ve got to wipe the slate clean, and you’ve got to get back to what you believe in and prepare and practice, mentally and physically, ready for another war come Saturday.”
Oklahoma is the first test on that run, and the Sooners are no longer in the rankings after opening the year 2-2. Senior quarterback John Mateer has had a rough stretch, and the offense has looked stuck and uneven. Even so, the Red River Rivalry has a way of ignoring the pregame math, which is why Texas is treating it like anything but a sure thing.
The next week brings No. 16 Florida, a game that has clearly stayed on the Longhorns’ minds since the Gators beat them in The Swamp last season.
Florida has outperformed preseason expectations and still brings plenty of punch, even after a 45-17 loss to Missouri exposed some issues. That defeat showed cracks in the young defense and shut down the run game, but the offense remains dangerous, averaging 46 points per game and featuring junior running back Jadan Baugh, one of the country’s best at the position.
Then comes No. 9 Ole Miss, and that one has already delivered plenty of drama under first-year head coach Pete Golding.
The Rebels got a revenge win over LSU and head coach Lane Kiffin a couple of weeks ago, then turned around and got handled by Florida 52-28. Even with that swing in results, Ole Miss still has a potent offense and is averaging 322.5 passing yards per game.
For Texas, it shapes up as a useful midseason test for the defense.
No. 17 Mississippi State is another team that burst onto the scene early before getting knocked back down.
The Bulldogs were one of the season’s biggest surprises through the first couple of weeks, but Alabama put them in their place on Saturday. Sophomore quarterback Kamario Taylor is still the name to watch there, and even in an off game against the Crimson Tide, he showed the kind of playmaking ability that can stress a defense.
And then there’s No. 14 Missouri, a November matchup that looks a lot more serious than it might have a few weeks ago.
If Missouri wasn’t already on Texas’ radar, it is now. By the time these teams meet, it could easily be a top-10 showdown.
The Tigers have settled in as a steady top-20 team, they have the benefit of a strong home-field edge, and senior transfer quarterback Austin Simmons backed that up with 340 passing yards against Florida.
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The biggest concern is a familiar one: third downs. Texas has hovered at an average conversion rate there, and Arch Mannings passing numbers have been mixed enough to keep the attack from finding a clean rhythm. The Longhorns do not need a wholesale overhaul, but they do need more consistency from a unit that has flashed enough to suggest better is there if it can just show up when the downs get longer and the pressure gets real. [Read more 🡒]