Something has been built over the past four years down on The 40 Acres going into a half decade for Steve Sarkisian at Texas. Now, the Longhorns enters this season yet again as a national title contender. On his show on Monday, Joel Klatt released his Preseason Top-25. Texas was in at No. 2 in […]
Something has been built over the past four years down on The 40 Acres going into a half decade for Steve Sarkisian at Texas. Now, the Longhorns enters this season yet again as a national title contender.
On his show on Monday, Joel Klatt released his Preseason Top-25. Texas was in at No. 2 in that ranking, around the same time yesterday that they were revealed at No. 1 in the debut of the Coaches Poll, behind only Penn Stateat No. 1.
“The Texas Longhorns are at number two,” said Klatt.
Every conversation about Texas coming into this season seemingly starts with QB Arch Manning, who’s entering his first season as a college starter and who Klatt already recently ranked as a top-five player in the entire sport. He’ll lead a Sarkisian-coached offense with plenty of pieces to work with around him, especially if a new-look offensive line comes along around their weapons.
“It’s Arch Mania, folks, and I can’t wait for it,” said Klatt. “I think Arch is going to be outstanding. He reminds me a bit of the college version of Trevor Lawrence. I’ve told you that before during the course of this offseason.”
“You look at what’s around Manning,” Klatt continued. “(Ryan) Wingo? He could be a breakout star on the outside. They get CJ Baxter back. Remember him? He’s excellent. The O-line has some question marks but, again, like, this is a program that has recruited really, really well.
However, for all the attention on Arch, Klatt based this ranking more so on the Longhorns’ defense. That’s with several starters, and stars at that, back on the unit from what was the third-best scoring defense a year ago. Now, Klatt thinks they could move up two spots to being the best scoring defense in the country this season, which would bode well based on what that’d mean for their championship hopes.
“I really think Texas has a great chance to have the best defense in the country. Sark is known for offense, everyone’s going to talk about Arch but the defense should be incredible – really, really good,” said Klatt. “Did you know five of the last eight national champions have finished with the No. 1 scoring defense in the country? Texas is going to have a chance to do that. They have a star at each level of that defense – Collin Simmons off the edge, Anthony Hill at linebacker, Michael Taaffe at safety. They hit the portal to address defensive tackle.”
With all that, Klatt made some notable preseason prognostications about the ‘Horns. He first predicted that Texas would win the SEC Championship, which would begin to make their case as the best program in the conference after only two years as part of the league. He then gave the Longhorns an early edge in their huge opener, being a playoff rematch between Klatt’s second and third-best teams from this ranking, which he’ll be on the call for on FOX in Columbus on August 30th.
“I believe that that’s your SEC Champion,” said Klatt. “I think that Texas, in a lot of ways, could steal the mantle from Georgia and win the SEC, and become the preeminent program in that conference.”
“I’m going to give them the early nod, at least right now, not picking a winner. But, like, I give them the nod over Ohio State in that three-two battle because I think I trust Manning over kind of an unfounded quarterback situation, unsettled quarterback situation at Ohio State,” Klatt added.
Texas has improved their win total in each season under Sarkisian, having, in each of the past two years, reached their respective conference title games as well as the College Football Playoff. That sets the Longhorns up to potentially take another step this season, which would mean being the best in the SEC and maybe winning it all in the CFP.
“I think Texas is going to be phenomenal this year, and they need to be,” said Klatt. “Listen, they’ve played in the national semifinal each of the last two years. Sark has built something that is sustainable.”
Category: General Sports
