Paul Finebaum, Heather Dinich breakdown what Texas needs to do to win SEC

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich know Texas has the talent to win the SEC in the Longhorns’ first year in the conference.

But, it’ll take quite the effort to do it over teams like Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss. Still, the talent is there for Steve Sarkisian and company.

But Texas, arguably, goes through one man: quarterback Quinn Ewers.

“If Quinn Ewers, number one, can stay healthy, he has not been healthy in the past,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “He’s missed a number of games, even though they do have Arch Manning as a backup and I think he can be elite. (Quinn is) one of the best quarterbacks in the country over the last couple of years going into college and even last year at various times. But he can’t have off games, not with his schedule that Texas has, so if he’s elite, Texas has a real shot.”

Dinich agreed Texas has the chops to get it done. However, the passing defense is the key for her when it comes to the Longhorns competing with the elite teams in the SEC and making a playoff run.

“Absolutely. They’ve got the depth that it’s going to take to contend for the national title because when you’re playing a season that long, that’s what you need,” Dinich said. “Sark has that on the offense and defense. They gotta get better though at pass defense.

“It’s still a premium at winning the SEC. They ranked 113th in the country last year in pass defense allowing about 250 yards per game. That Washington game, they racked up like 400 passing yards. The loss to OU, the same. Over 280 yards. They’ve got to shore that up to win the SEC.”

On3’s Jesse Simonton was of the mind that people could be sleeping on Ewers. If that’s the case, Texas might stun some elite teams.

“I’m going to take Texas for the next pick … Are we sleeping on Quinn Ewers,” Simonton said of CFP contenders in the SEC on Andy Staples On3. “I’m gonna be really interested to see what he says … Thursday … I just wonder if he’s been kind of lost in the shuffle. You know, in terms of the conversation. I just don’t feel like he’s been in a ton of headlines this offseason. Aside from him saying that like Texas is gonna be you know, the bullseye of everybody’s team”