For Texas football, avoiding a hangover from last season’s success is the main priority going into the 2024 season. It’s head coach Steve Sarkisian’s fourth year, and the expectations are higher than ever.
Texas will start this season ranked fourth in the first AP and Coach’s polls, its highest preseason ranking since 2009. Entering its first season in the Southeastern Conference, former legendary Alabama head coach Nick Saban picked the Longhorns to face the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship game.
The team will not only have to block out the expectations from the outside world, but also the distractions of gameday. Not only is it Texas’ inaugural SEC game, but it’s also the 100th year anniversary of football games being played at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. On top of that, Texas will celebrate winning the 2024 Learfield Directors’ Cup and honor the 2024 Paris Olympians at Saturday’s game.
“There’s a lot of really cool things that are happening this season,” Sarkisian said. “Obviously the 100th year anniversary of DKR, which is a tremendous honor to be the head coach to play in the 100th season here, when you think about all the great teams and the great players and the great coaches in the moments that have occurred in the stadium.”
Despite this, Texas is facing pressure early. The weakest part of the 2023 Longhorns, the pass defense, will be tested early.
As the Colorado State Rams come to Austin on Saturday, they also bring a dynamic air-raid offense. In the official NCAA statistics from 2023, Texas was ranked 113th overall in pass defense and gave up over 254 yards per game in the air. The Rams ranked fifth among 133 FBS schools in passing attempts per game in 2023, proving true to the air-raid name.
“We’ve got a very tough opponent,” Sarkisian said. “Coach (Jay) Norvell has done a really good job of building that program back up at Colorado State. They were five and seven last year, but there were a lot of close games that could have went either way.”
The Texas secondary, which features several additions from the transfer portal, will have its work cut out for it. The Rams bring in one of the most dynamic players in the nation with graduate wide receiver Tory Horton. Last season, Horton led the Mountain West in receiving yards per game with over 94 yards and an average of eight receptions per game. He is a key part of head coach Norvell’s air-raid offense.
“(Horton), he’s long, he’s fast, he’s got really good routes, and then he goes up and gets the ball,” senior defensive back Michael Taaffe said. “(The) quarterback places it where he needs to place it, where the receivers can make a play on the ball. So it’s a really good challenge for us as a secondary. They were top 15 in passing in the whole country last year.”
Sarkisian has emphasized Horton’s threat not just on offense, but on special teams. Last season, Horton returned a punt for a touchdown and established his reputation as a dynamic kick returner.
Though the pass defense will be tested early by Horton and the Rams, the Texas offense is expected to be firing on all cylinders. In 2023, Texas was the ninth-ranked overall offense averaging over 477 yards per game, and remains led by junior quarterback Quinn Ewers, who is returning as Texas’ starting quarterback for his third year. The Rams’ defense gave up an average of 415 yards per game and the Longhorns’ dynamic offense is expected to put up similar numbers.
Both offenses will be on full display for Saturday’s game, but it’s up to a new-look Texas secondary to shut down Colorado State’s game plan: throwing the ball, and doing it a lot.
