Kirk Herbstreit: Texas 2022 mindset, offensive line is key to victory for Longhorns

One of the marquee matchups of the college football season is slated for Saturday night in Tuscaloosa as Alabama hosts Texas for the first time in more than a century. Ahead of the contest, ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit dove into the matchup on a conference call with reporters.

Herbstreit thinks it’ll be another close contest — Alabama won, 20-19, in Austin last season — that might hinge on how Texas can hold up in pass protection. If they do, he thinks they can flash their aggressive, bordering on reckless abandon downfield passing attack that was giving the Crimson Tide trouble last season until start quarterback Quinn Ewers was knocked out with an injury.

Herbstreit thinks recapturing that aggressive streak will be big for Texas this time around; and he’s not concerned about a slightly conservative, ho-hum offensive showing in the opener against Rice.

“Who knows what would’ve happened if he stayed in the game. My point is I think [Steve Sarkisian] had something going there and it would’ve been fun to see that battle throughout the whole game. I don’t personally take a lot away from the Rice game. I think when you have week two, a Behemoth, I don’t think you really do a whole lot with all due respect to Rice. I think it’s really more about getting some people out there, the depth rotating guys around, getting a lot of people to have a chance to go out and show what they can do. But you know Sark, I mean, he’s holding things back,” Herbstreit said. “He’s not going to show what he’s going to do now.”

However, Ewers getting knocked out on a hit from Dallas Turner likely played a factor in deciding that game.

Herbstreit knows that the talented, seasoned Texas offensive line holding up against the Alabama front seven is pivotal for the Longhorns to not only keep Ewers upright, but give him enough time to attack down the field.

“They don’t have the luxury of being in Austin this time around with the crowd behind them. Alabama, when their fans feel threatened, that is a really good atmosphere and very challenging on the quarterback and offensive line,” Herbstreit said. “I don’t know if enough people really talk about their setting, but again, they’ve had a lot of great years and when they play a team, they know they’re going to handle, maybe it’s an okay atmosphere, but when they feel that it’s a big game, they can be a difference in the game.

“So how they handle that for the first time, even though it’s a veteran O line and a veteran quarterback, that’ll be very different than it was a year ago. So I’m anxious to see how they handle that and see if they can get out of 3rd and seven, 3rd and eighth. What they do on first and second I think will be critical to their success this week.”