The memories of last season’s Cotton Bowl still linger on the mind for Texas football, as do the scars of two consecutive trips to the College Football Playoff semifinal.
Yet here’s the beauty of college football: a new fall also rings in a new start for 136 Football Bowl Subdivision teams — even for the likes of Texas.
This is a fresh start for Texas football, earning No. 1 in the AP preseason poll for the first time heading into the season. It’s as much a representation of a strongly built roster as it is a roster with new ideals. It’s a reset of expectations and goals.
CJ Baxter, the sophomore running back who had dreads for the past six years, cut them off — new hair, new self, new chapter. As for the rest of the Longhorns, players are turning the page; this season is less about revenge and more about fostering the next opportunity.
“As a human, you naturally think of the past,” Baxter said. “But for us … it’s not really revenge. It’s all about us, one game at a time — be where our feet are.”
Baxter, who finished recovering from an ACL tear this offseason, was a “science project” for the Texas training staff.
Managed methodically, Baxter represents the patience Texas wants as it learns to push through seasons of frustration and avoids potential collapses under pressure.
For sophomore edge Colin Simmons, patience is cultivated through what Texas calls distractions, adding playful energy in the locker room. That’s where the commercials and magician visits find their impact.
“We wake up football, we eat football, we sleep football,” Simmons said. “So when we have those little (bits) of entertainment here and there, it just … allows us to decompress and have fun.”
That looseness translates when the defense takes the field. Simmons is quick to note it’s the whole unit, not just his line.
“It ain’t even just the (defensive line),” Simmons said. “The linebackers bring the energy. The secondary brings the energy.”
Brotherhood off the field, fun in the middle of the grind and contagious energy between the lines — that’s the balance that Texas keeps as the pressure mounts.
So the natural question must be asked: Is week one about revenge or something else?
“It’s not about revenge,” Baxter said. “It’s about us.”
Texas players still carry the memory of that 14-point loss to the Buckeyes, but they are reframing it. To them, it’s about aggression with control.
“The target’s not on our back. We have a red dot on everyone else,” sophomore quarterback Arch Manning said.
The red dot is aimed at Columbus now — at “the Shoe,” one of the most intimidating places to play in all of college football. This trip to Ohio State is a test of the road-hardened culture Sarkisian spoke about at Monday’s press conference.
“Mostly, it’s staying connected and staying connected on that sideline, being enamored with what we need to do and not get so caught up in what’s going on around us,” Sarkisian said.
The 2025 Cotton Bowl left a scar on Texas football, but scars don’t weaken; they reshape. Now, eight months later, the newly minted No. 1 team in college football steps back into the fight — tougher, hardened and ready to prove how far they’ve come.
“I don’t want to be my previous self,” Baxter said. “Because I’ve grown so much in the last year.”
Texas is ready to move past its old ways. The label of “chokes” or “disappointments” does not hold the team back. If anything, it pushes it forward.
And it all starts tomorrow.
