The last two times Texas and ULM have played each other, Texas has won by almost 40 points. The game this Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium will most likely not be any different.
According to the ESPN analytics matchup predictor, the Longhorns have a 99% chance of winning the game on Saturday.
So with the odds in their favor, here are the keys to a Longhorn win:
Don’t make big mistakes
Although the game is likely not going to be close, the Longhorns can’t relax on the field and make sloppy mistakes. The Warhawks are rested after having a bye week last week and are currently undefeated under new head coach Bryant Vincent, so they will make the Longhorns pay for serious errors on offense or defense.
The Warhawks have offensive strength in Vincent, who was an offensive coordinator at New Mexico, and several key players who can help get them points on the board, including redshirt junior quarterback General Booty.
Booty transferred from Oklahoma before this season, so he might be even more driven to make big plays against Texas. He is not afraid to run the ball, going for 24 net yards on nine attempts this season.
Take a big lead early
If the Longhorns are able to put up enough points in the first half, the starters will most likely get pulled off the field. Against UTSA, Texas football put in 77 of their 120 players, so the game will likely be similar.
Putting in other players on the roster allows for those players to gain experience, expanding the depth of the roster, which is especially important as injuries start to rack up. Texas proved that its roster was ready to handle whatever was thrown at them last week when junior quarterback Quinn Ewers went down with an abdominal injury. Backup redshirt freshman quarterback Arch
Manning stepped on the field and proved himself more than capable to lead the team with poise.
With Ewers not likely to return this week, Manning will have to step up again. Manning will have sophomore running back Quintrevion Wisner as an option this week. Wisner missed the second half of the UTSA game due to a tweaked muscle in the first half.
If Manning and the offense are able to get a lot of points on the board, head coach Steve Sarkisian can take out the starters, helping make sure they…
Don’t get hurt
The worst thing that could come out of this game are more injuries.
Texas will want to be in good shape with its first SEC matchup against Mississippi State next week, so avoiding injury in this game is extremely important and as seen in the UTSA game, injuries are never out of the question.
