Texas is back in the same familiar spot: carrying preseason title buzz and staring at a schedule built to test every inch of it.
The Longhorns closed last season with a strong run, one that included a win over Texas A&M, one of the 12 teams to make the College Football Playoff, and a rout of Michigan in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. That finish helped push Texas right back into the national spotlight, where it now sits as the favorite to lift the trophy in Las Vegas next January.
But Texas also knows how quickly that kind of hype can turn. The Longhorns opened the 2025 season No. 1 in the polls and entered last year as the national favorite, and that kind of runway does not guarantee a smooth landing.
This time, the road is even more punishing by design. Texas will still face Ohio State in Week 2, finishing the home-and-home series with the Buckeyes despite the noise around dropping the game for easier “cupcake” opponents. The nonconference slate also includes Texas State and UTSA, with UTSA again looking like one of those games that starts out troublesome before the Longhorns settle in.
The SEC schedule does Texas no favors either. The Longhorns open conference play on the road against Tennessee, then head to the Cotton Bowl for the annual Red River Showdown.
Later comes Ole Miss, a trip to Tiger Stadium to face a Lane Kiffin-led LSU, and a new-look Florida under new management with Jon Sumrall. The regular season closes with a Black Friday Lone Star Showdown against Texas A&M.
There’s no shortage of land mines there. Texas can absolutely survive it, but the bigger question is whether the Longhorns can endure that grind without stumbling into the first round of the playoffs.
Steve Sarkisian and his staff attacked the portal to try to clean up the issues that showed up last season. At running back, Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers are expected to bring the kind of steady, forceful production that CJ Baxter and Quintrveion Wisner could not.
Arch Manning also gets a clearer setup in the passing game. With no true No. 1 receiver in 2025, Auburn transfer Cam Coleman steps in as the X receiver, joining Ryan Wingo and Emmitt Mosley V to give Manning a stronger group to work with.
The line in front of him got help too, with transfers Melvin Salani and Laurence Seymour added to bolster the offensive front.
On defense, Texas looks loaded enough to be one of the best units in the country. The mix includes experienced returners and players who could be ready for breakout seasons.
Will Muschamp is back on the Forty Acres in the play-calling mix, with Colin Simmons and Hero Kanu expected to be the core in the middle and in the dirt. The secondary may be the youngest Texas has had in years, but Jelani McDonald gives it a veteran anchor in his fourth season.
After a year of seasoning, this version of Texas has the look of a team ready to take a real step forward. Whether it can finally outrun the ghosts of recent seasons is the part that still has to be proven.
In Other News...
Alabama Fans Wont Enjoy Seeing This Former Tide QB Buzz
Pro Football Focus latest look at the 2026 college football landscape comes with a familiar name near the top: Julian Sayin, the former Alabama commit who has quickly become the kind of quarterback evaluators are willing to build an entire preseason conversation around. Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick slotted the Ohio State star as the top quarterback in the country and fourth overall, a nod to how much his rise has accelerated since he landed in Columbus.
Sayins 2025 season gave the ranking plenty of support, as he led the nation in completion percentage and emerged as the lone returning Heisman finalist heading into 2026. PFFs list is loaded with elite talent at the top, with Jeremiah Smith at No. 1 overall and defenders Leonard Moore and Colin Simmons also placed ahead of Sayin, but the buzz around the Buckeyes quarterback is only going to grow now that hes being talked about as one of the sports premier players before the new season even begins. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Has A National Title Roster And One Lingering Concern
Texas enters the season looking like a roster built to chase a national title, with key NFL draft prospects back in the fold and a transfer portal class that only adds to the optimism around Steve Sarkisians program. The defense should again be a strength under new coordinator Will Muschamp, giving the Longhorns a sturdy foundation on a team that has every reason to expect a big year.
The one area still drawing concern is safety, where inexperience and recent departures have left the secondary with a real question to answer. Jelani McDonald, Xavier Filsaime, Derek Williams Jr. and Jonah Williams are all in the mix for starting jobs, and how that competition settles will go a long way toward determining whether Texas has the kind of complete roster needed to finish the job. [Read more 🡒]
Five Longhorns Entering Fall Camp With Real Jobs On The Line
With Arch Manning and Cam Coleman set to anchor the top of the Texas offense, fall camp is also about the less glamorous jobs that can shape a season just as much. The Longhorns have a few spots that still feel wide open, and that means the next few weeks should tell a lot about who is ready to step into the lineup when the real work begins.
Safety and left guard stand out most, with Derek Williams Jr. and Laurence Seymore among the players trying to turn opportunity into a starting role. There are other names worth tracking too, from Justus Terry on the defensive front to freshman Jermaine Bishop Jr. on offense and in the return game, while Lance Jackson and Brad Spence are pushing to make the edge-rusher rotation harder to sort out than it looked a few months ago. [Read more 🡒]