The Texas-Ohio State showdown is still days away, but the scene around Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium is already taking shape. Students are lining up to get inside, while plenty of others are watching the price tag and deciding the game is out of reach.
For some Longhorns, the cost is the whole story. KXAN found the cheapest online seats at $480 in the upper deck, and the closer you get to the field, the more the numbers climb into the thousands. UT student Kush Jain said the pricing fits the moment.
“Ticket prices are definitely expensive but you have the biggest brand of football,” Kush Jain, a student at UT, said.
Jain said he’ll be watching from home, and he isn’t shocked the market has pushed prices this high. Matt Patton of AngelouEconomics said the demand is exactly what you’d expect for a game of this size.
“There is a lot more than 100,000 people that want to see that game so we will see those tickets in the secondary markets go up,” said Matt Patton with AngelouEconomics.
Patton said the money flowing into Austin goes well beyond the stadium gates. He pointed to fuller hotels, busier restaurants and more rideshare traffic as part of the ripple effect.
“That’s more heads in beds, restaurants are going to see an up tick, Uber drivers, everything that makes a live event go we are going to see a real benefit to the economy,” said Patton.
Buckeye fans in town said they plan to make the most of the trip and see what Austin has to offer while they’re here.
“We love checking out a new place, checking out the town and what the culture has to offer,” said an OSU fan.
That kind of foot traffic is exactly what businesses near campus are counting on. At Dirty Martin’s on the Drag, general manager Daniel Young said the restaurant expects a packed house from open to close.
“We are anticipating basically being full from the moment we open to the moment we close,” said Dirty’s GM Daniel Young.
Young added that when Texas is good, the crowds show up in force.
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Urban Meyer Sees Ohio State Texas Coming Down To One Big Play
Urban Meyer is treating the Ohio State-Texas showdown like the kind of early-season heavyweight fight that can swing on a single moment. After both teams rolled through their openers against overmatched opponents, the former Buckeyes coach pointed to the quarterbacks as the obvious center of gravity, with Julian Sayin and Arch Manning carrying most of the pressure in a game that figures to be tight for a long stretch.
Texas does get the home-field edge, and Meyer acknowledged that as part of what makes this such a tricky road test for Ohio State. Still, he called for the Buckeyes to pull it out, which only adds another layer to a matchup already loaded with intrigue. For a Longhorns team trying to measure itself against one of the sports standard-bearers, the margin for error may be as slim as Meyer suggests. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Faces One Real Backfield Concern Before Ohio State
Texas has spent much of the buildup to Ohio State sorting through the usual early-season questions, but the one backfield wrinkle worth watching is the status of freshman running back Derrek Cooper. He was hurt in the season opener, and while the Longhorns have not issued an official injury report, head coach Steve Sarkisian said Cooper was in a boot as the team moved into the week.
Cooper is now a game-time decision, which leaves a little uncertainty in an area where Texas otherwise expects to lean on its top options. If he cannot go, the Longhorns should have enough depth to cover the workload, with Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown likely carrying most of the load. Still, against a national-stage opponent like Ohio State, every available back matters, and Texas would prefer to know exactly what it has before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Passing Game Could Put Ohio State In A Brutal Bind
Cam Coleman has become the name Ohio State has to keep circling on its game plan, because Texas does not need much help turning one receiver into a stress test for a secondary. The Longhorns have other options too, but Coleman is the wideout who can force the Buckeyes into uncomfortable decisions, especially with cornerbacks Devin Sanchez and Jermaine Mathews Jr. likely getting some of the toughest work on the field.
For Ohio State, the real problem is that leaning too hard toward Coleman can open the door for the rest of Texas passing game. If the Buckeyes shade extra attention his way, the Longhorns have receivers like Ryan Wingo and Mosley V positioned to take advantage, which is exactly the kind of chain reaction Ohio State has to avoid. It leaves the Buckeyes weighing how much help to send without giving Texas an easier path somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]