Joel Klatt: Texas could run the table in the Big 12

Texas made quite a statement last week in the Red River Showdown against Oklahoma with a 49-0 victory. But FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt thinks it could have quite a long-term effect on the Longhorns’ season.

“I know that’s a tough conference, but who’s beating Texas if they play like that?” he said. “I think we need to at least mull the possibility that Texas could run the table.”

Klatt, speaking on the latest episode of “Breaking the Huddle with Joel Klatt,” had some high praise for Quinn Ewers, Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns. Ewers had a monster day in his first game back from injury, completing 21 of 31 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns to lead the potent offensive attack.

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Klatt pointed to some big-time plays in that game and said Ewers doesn’t look like someone who’s playing his first full season of college football.

“This young quarterback is making throws right now that are way beyond his years,” Klatt said. “He’s fearless, he throws with great anticipation … he operates quickly, you can tell he’s not thinking a lot because he’s operating quickly. The more you think as a quarterback, the slower you play, the slower your decisions are. This guy has a firm grasp of what’s going on and he’s operating what is always a great game plan and very strong play-calling at a high level.

“So this mixture — a really talented quarterback playing great, an offensive coach that is aggressive, creative, has great game plans that are going to take advantage of what he sees on the film and then [is] not afraid to call those things right in the heat of the moment — that combination has Texas set up for success down the rest of the stretch. … Then what do we do with the Longhorns at that point? What do we do with them? Now, who knows, because we’ve seen Texas go up and down and up and down, and maybe they’re just fooling us again. But what we saw on Saturday from Sark and Quinn Ewers was spectacular.”

With the win, Texas jumped back into the AP Top 25, checking in at No. 22 in the latest rankings. The Longhorns will try to keep things rolling this week when they take on Iowa State at home Saturday at noon ET on ABC.