Bohls: After three games, it's a feeling of in Longhorns we trust (fingers crossed)
While I got ya, here are nine things and a crazy prediction:
1. Well, I believe. And I think many of you do as well. After three games, the Longhorns look to me like the real deal. I think Texas established enough credibility — two impressive wins and a scare of then-No. 1 Alabama — that Longhorn Nation can trust it as well as Steve Sarkisian, who takes his 2-1 team into Lubbock to begin Big 12 play against 1-2 Texas Tech. Sure, the Horns started flat, almost predictably, and fell behind UTSA 17-7 in the first 20 minutes Saturday before stiffening and winning going away 41-20. Asked if they’ve got sufficient credibility that fans and media no longer have doubts, tailback Bijan Robinson said, “I don’t know. For each other, we do. We want to go out and dominate every game.” Nose tackle Keondre Coburn said of the trust by fans, “I hope they do (respect us). Our job is to go out and play football. They can join us or don’t.” For his part, Sarkisian said on Monday, “Clearly, we've been in three different styles of ball games. And we've done a lot of work kind of culturally as a team and I’ve got a lot of faith in these guys that they're going to respond to whatever situation arises, whatever adversity they get faced with. I go back to this game Saturday, to be down 17-7. Nobody blinked, nobody said ‘Here we go again.’ A year ago we may have. I don't want to say for sure. But we may have and we just stayed the course. And so I do have a lot of faith in our team. I think we've got great leaders. I think we're a hungry team. I think we believe in ourselves. I think the players believe in their ability to play good football.” I agree. The roster has been upgraded. Coaching development is taking root. The Horns are playing smart, aggressive football. It tells me Texas should be a legitimate contender for the Big 12 title.
2. SEC on hold. Greg Sankey didn’t evade the question at all. I asked the SEC commissioner in the Texas A&M press box if we should put a lot of stock into the fact his office has put on hold Oklahoma’s upcoming scheduled nonconference games with Georgia and Tennessee but didn’t address next season’s Texas-Alabama game. "That's a pretty good sign that the (current) conference alignments are going to stay" the way they are now, Sankey said Saturday night. That’s a strong opinion that Texas won’t be in the SEC any sooner than the fall of 2024. … He said the SEC is strongly considering a single division with 16 teams, but “the real debate is eight or nine (conference) games. That doesn’t mean divisions are completely erased from our consideration, but they’re not at the forefront of our thinking. And going from eight to nine is not certain by any stretch of the imagination.” Sankey said the pods idea “really don’t work” because it wouldn’t allow more members to play others on a regular basis. He noted that A&M has yet to host Georgia after joining the league in 2012. … When I asked what is feasible for the shortest timeline for the Longhorns and Sooners, he said Missouri joined the SEC after being accepted in November the year before it became a member. “That’s your limit. We wouldn’t want to go there. But the sooner we know, the better.” … Apparently the Bedlam series between OU and Oklahoma State may die with the final time they play as Big 12 members, and that’s a shame. I hate seeing the dissolution of historic rivalries. This could be the final time Texas travels to Lubbock for a football game. Texas Tech comes to Austin in 2023. Insiders tell me Texas could continue to play Tech, Baylor or TCU occasionally once it moves to the SEC, but it’s only interested in facing those foes at DKR.
More: Texas' young offensive line is easing into top form quickly
3. Give ❜em an A for creativity. Texas' offensive linemen are a tight group. They even came up with their own colorful nicknames. Across the board, it's left tackle: Kelvin “Bankroll” Banks, left guard Hayden “Cornbread” Conner, center Jake “Short Stack” Majors, right guard Cole “Sprinkles” Hutson and right tackle Christian “Hit Man” Jones. Jones said he picked his because “I like to hit people.” Majors chose Short Stack because he’s a pancake lover. As for Sprinkles, Jones said, “Like sprinkles on ice cream. He likes cake.” … Jones is clearly one of the top personalities on this team, and his move from left to right tackle has paid off dividends. He graduated last December and is now taking sports management classes. “I’d much rather be a GM than a coach,” he said. “You know, be like Trump: you’re hired.”
4. Three’s a crowd. Texas Tech is having its own quarterback issues. Like Texas, its starter is out with a collarbone injury. But when former Oregon transfer Tyler Shough mends, Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire said he is more than open to using not only him but current starter Donovan Smith and also redshirt freshman Behren Morton, who has thrown 17 passes this year. “I can’t wait till he gets better because Zach (Kittley, offensive coordinator) does have a lot of fun formations with all three of them in the game at the same time. We worked on them all camp.”
Bohls: Texas A&M's defense has been so smothering, who needs an offense?
5. Plenty of plaudits. The Longhorns' defense is earning its chops even though Texas missed 15 tackles against the Roadrunners after totaling six in the opener and seven against Bama. In three games, opponents have reached the red zone seven times but produced just two touchdowns. That's impressive. ... Nickel back Jahdae Barron became the second Longhorns defensive back to have a pick-six this season, keeping up with cornerback D’Shawn Jamison, who did the trick in the opener. Asked when he’s going to get his, safety Anthony Cook said, “Hopefully this week." … Texas made use of the Wildcat formation against UTSA, but Bijan Robinson said he probably isn’t ready to replace Roschon Johnson and take his first snap out of that alignment and chunk the ball. Asked if he’s got an arm, Robinson said, “No. Oh, I can throw, but it might come out wobbly. Rojo can zip it.” Something tells me Sarkisian has barely scratched the surface out of all the potential plays he might use out of that two-back backfield.
More: Jahdae Barron becomes the second Longhorn to score on a pick-six
6. Get your tickets. There’s no bigger proponent of college volleyball than Jerritt Elliott. The Longhorns volleyball coach, whose No. 1 team starts conference play Wednesday at Kansas, notes that his sport is just taking off and cited the fact the national network has shifted that Big 12 opener from ESPNU to ESPN2. He said he and school officials have discussed playing a home match in the more spacious Moody Center next season rather than its normal home base at Gregory Gym, and try to shoot for a record-breaking crowd to break the mark of 16,833 set in Wisconsin when No. 12 Florida held on to beat the host Badgers last week. Elliott said he’s talked with the UT administration about the idea but, “Moody (10,000 to 15,000 capacity) doesn’t hold enough (to break that mark). We’ve talked about an American Airlines match in Dallas on the Friday night before the Texas-OU game or getting 40,000 at the Rangers stadium because they’re interested in hosting us. That’s fun for the media.” Texas is No. 4 nationally with an average crowd of 3,626, but fit in 5,080 against Nebraska in last year’s NCAA regional final at Gregory. … With Texas starting out at an impressive 8-0 with five sweeps already, I couldn’t help but ask if he’s addressed his team about going undefeated. “Oh no,” Elliott said. “I’m just trying to figure out our lineup. I’m always aware of the next pitfalls and wondering if we can keep the team united and growing in practice.” That said, I think there’s 90% chance the Longhorns go undefeated. They’ve dropped only three sets all year, the fewest in the country.
Golden: Texas was smart to rely on the run against UTSA
7. Kudos to Kansas. And second-year head coach Lance Leipold for pounding Houston to go to 3-0 and creep closer to the Top 25. But if I were a Jayhawks fan, I'd be afraid Nebraska could come calling. … And there is life after Dak Prescott. Cooper Rush looked remarkably good, having replaced the injured Prescott and leading the Cowboys to an upset win of the surprisingly bad Cincinnati Bengals. … And to Devin Duvernay, the former Texas wideout who ran back a kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown for the Ravens and now has three touchdowns this year.
8. Scattershooting. While wondering whatever happened to former Longhorns running back Adrian Walker.
9. On the couch: If you haven’t seen “Morbius,” good for you. Zach and I made that mistake and we had to be lenient to give it 3 ducks. Horrible, confusing script. Without some cool special effects, it’d get a 2.
Crazy prediction: Former Lake Travis star wide receiver Garrett Wilson, now with the New York Jets, will be the AFC rookie of the year.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Heading into Big 12 play, this Texas team has some real field cred
