No. 4 Texas is saying all the right things ahead of its season opener against visiting Colorado State on Saturday in Austin.
A date at defending national champion Michigan looms large in Week 2, but the Longhorns aren’t overlooking the Rams.
“We’ve got a very tough opponent,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said at his weekly news conference. “(Colorado State coach Jay Norvell) has done a great job of building that program back up. They were 5-7 last year, but there was a lot of close games that could have went either way.”
The Longhorns enter their first season in the SEC with plenty of buzz after they reached the College Football Playoff a year ago.
Quarterback Quinn Ewers is one of college football’s biggest names and an early Heisman contender. He is coming off a season in which he threw for 3,479 yards, the fourth-most in a season in program history.
Arguably the biggest question facing the Longhorns is at running back. Starter CJ Baxter and freshman Christian Clark were lost to season-ending injuries during fall camp. Texas still has talent at the position in Jaydon Blue, Jerrick Gibson and Quintrevion Wisner.
Defensively, the Longhorns must be prepared for the Rams’ pass-happy attack. One player to keep an eye on is Colorado State’s Tory Horton, who has posted consecutive 1,100-yard, eight-TD receiving seasons.
“They have a very explosive offense that likes to throw the ball around. (They have) a dynamic receiver in Tory Horton,” Sarkisian said.
In the end, though, Sarkisian said among the top priorities is ensuring plenty of players see action.
“We have a two-deep, when in reality our ones are our twos and our twos are our ones,” he said. “Getting all those guys involved in the game and seeing the comfort level maybe of some of our younger players, then getting them more comfortable as the game goes on, I think is important for us as well.”
For Colorado State, playing a blue blood like Texas is an exciting opportunity.
“To play in Austin in Memorial Stadium is a big deal,” Norvell said. “We’re excited about it. Our kids are excited about it. We’re looking forward to the opportunity.”
Norvell has plenty of experience facing Texas. He was an assistant at Oklahoma for seven years under Bob Stoops (2008-14), then spent one season as an assistant at Texas (2015).
Now he’s in the process of building up Colorado State’s program. He has gone from a three-win season in 2022 to a five-win campaign in 2023 to hopes of becoming bowl eligible and posting a winning season in 2024.
“We’ve had a good camp,” Norvell said. “We’ve got a lot of experienced players back. We’ve got a lot of newcomers that we’ve injected into this roster. I’m just really pleased with where we’re at right now.”
This will be just the second meeting between Texas and Colorado State. The Longhorns won the first matchup 46-0 in 1975 in Austin.
–Field Level Media