No. 1 Texas heads to Knoxville next Saturday as a 5.5-point road favorite for its SEC opener against No. 14 Tennessee, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
It will be the first game in Knoxville between the Longhorns and Volunteers, and it comes with the kind of setting that can swallow teams whole. Neyland Stadium holds 101,915 and has a reputation as one of the loudest, most hostile places in college football. Texas is 3-0 after beating UTSA 30-6 on Saturday, but this trip will ask a lot more than a home win in Austin.
These two programs have met only three times before, and every matchup came in the Cotton Bowl. Tennessee won the first one, 20-14 in 1951, before Texas answered with a 16-0 win in 1953 and a 36-13 victory in 1969.
Tennessee is unbeaten too, and Josh Heupel’s sixth team out of the gate has looked explosive through three games. The Vols opened with a 56-9 win over Furman, followed by a 45-24 victory at Georgia Tech and a 42-9 home win over Kennesaw State on Saturday. They’re averaging 47.7 points per game and 298.7 rushing yards per game, with a pace-and-space look Texas has already seen this month against Texas State.
Freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon has handled the offense efficiently, completing 60.5% of his passes with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Desean Bishop has been the hammer in the backfield, piling up 286 yards on 43 carries - 6.7 yards per attempt - with four scores.
Texas’ defense showed some teeth against UTSA after entering Saturday night dead last in the SEC in third-down defense. The Longhorns had been allowing opponents to convert 50% of the time on third down, which ranked 125th nationally out of 138 teams, but they held UTSA to 1-of-11 on third downs.
“We went through the wide splits and tempo against Texas State,” Texas linebacker Justin Cryer said. “We saw some tempo again tonight [against UTSA]. We've been kind of building up for this [Tennessee] game, and now we're playing as a team with the talent and means to to go out there and play effectively.
"The challenge is what it is. They go deep.
They have their freshman quarterback [Faizon Brandon], who I think is a really great athlete. Super live arm.
They're big up front. They have a lot of playmakers outside, too.
So, it's definitely going to be a challenge for us just to go out there and get lined up, ready for that tempo. To see those wide splits again is kind of annoying, but that's how college football is these days - it's a copycat league.
We'll have our hands full. But that's why we practice.”
Texas’ offense, though, didn’t look nearly as sharp against UTSA as it did in the previous week’s win over then-No. 1 Ohio State.
Against the Buckeyes, the Longhorns ripped off three straight double-digit-play touchdown drives to erase a 21-0 fourth-quarter deficit in a 24-23 comeback. Against UTSA, the rhythm disappeared.
Arch Manning finished 16 of 32 for 161 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions, and Texas managed only 10 second-half points. Manning said plainly, “I didn't play well," and added, "On offense, we were a little sloppy. Got to be better if we want to beat Tennessee.”
The matchup also carries a family connection for Manning, whose uncle Peyton Manning played quarterback at Tennessee before going on to win two Super Bowls in the NFL.
Sarkisian called the UTSA performance “choppy” on offense and said Manning “fell in love with his legs a little bit.”
“Clearly, we're going to need to play better next week in Knoxville in a tough environment against a very good football team,” Sarkisian said. “So, hey, it's good to win our 12th straight at home.
I think we're 23-and-one now in our last 24 games. We know we're tough to beat here at home, but now we've got to go do it on the road, and I think that's the that's the next challenge for this team.”
In Other News...
Texas Heads Into Tennessee With One Big Concern On Offense
Texas heads into its SEC opener at Tennessee as a 5.5-point favorite, but the bigger storyline is less about the number next to the game and more about how the Longhorns handle a trip to Neyland Stadium for the first time. Texas is 3-0, but its last outing was a 30-6 win over UTSA in which quarterback Quinn Ewers completed just half of his passes, leaving a familiar concern hanging over an offense that has otherwise done enough to stay unbeaten.
Tennessee brings its own momentum into next Saturdays matchup, also at 3-0 under Josh Heupel and averaging 47.7 points per game behind freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon. The Vols have been piling up offense at a pace that will test Texas from the opening series, and for the Longhorns the question is whether the passing game can find a steadier rhythm before the stage gets a lot bigger in Knoxville. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Leaves UTSA With An Offensive Concern Fans Can't Ignore
A 30-6 win usually leaves a team feeling pretty good about itself, and Texas had plenty to like on the defensive side after holding UTSA to field goals and keeping the Roadrunners out of the end zone. But the offense left a more uncomfortable conversation behind, because the Longhorns were not nearly as sharp finishing drives as they had been in their first two games.
Against UTSA, Texas managed to get moving enough to control the game, but the red zone was a different story, and that kind of drop-off is hard to ignore this early in the season. With Tennessee next on the schedule in the SEC opener, the margin for settling for three instead of seven figures to get a lot thinner, which is why the way Texas turns possession into points now feels like a real issue to watch. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Looked Like No. 1 Until One Ugly Warning Sign Emerged
Texas finished its non-conference slate with a 30-6 win over UTSA, and the result was enough to push the Longhorns to 3-0 and into the No. 1 spot in the Top 25. Steve Sarkisian had plenty to like on the defensive side, where Texas again looked like a team built to control games, but the night also served as another reminder that the margin for error gets much thinner once SEC play starts.
Arch Mannings box score was solid enough on paper with two touchdown passes and no interceptions, but the offense never looked especially sharp and the quarterback absorbed multiple hard hits while trying to extend plays. Texas also piled up eight penalties for 88 yards after being flagged only twice against Ohio State, and that kind of sloppiness is the sort of warning sign a No. 1 team cannot ignore for long. [Read more 🡒]