SEC power rankings after week 1 - 10: Texas
All offseason, we were promised that this would be an explosive and exciting Longhorns team. And while game one was against a great defense, that’s not what we got.
Instead, we got the definition of a whiff. The offense was entirely non-functional, and while the defense gave up only one big play, they weren’t able to consistently stop Ohio State down-to-down.
The running game for Texas was able to generate a little bit, but the big difference here was quality of passer. Sayin was locked in for most of the day, even if they didn't open up the playbook fully, while Manning— apart from a few throws— did not look like he should have been starting for any Power 4 school. Don’t let excuse-making fool you— the postgame win expectancy for Ohio State here was 75% according to collegefootballdata.com.
The Texas defense with what was supposed to be an insane pass rush from Anthony Hill and Colin Simmons registered exactly zero sacks. They got pushed around up front from time to time, as well. Again, no big plays given up, but they got out-muscled.
This does not look like a national-championship-contending team right now. Props to them for testing themselves early on, but Texas fans ought to go ahead and acclimate themselves to that fact.