What to watch for as Texas opens the season against Colorado State

Texas’ season opener is accompanied by very high expectations. With a consensus Top 4 team in the country, head coach Steve Sarkisian is looking to build on the success of last season’s 12-2 trip to the playoffs. 

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At this same point a year ago, it looked like the Horns were destined for a rebuild year in 2024. That was before foundational pieces like quarterback Quinn Ewers, defensive tackle Alfred Collins, and defensive back Jahdae Barron elected to return. It was also before Texas took full advantage of the portal. Who would have thought the coaches could replace three NFL Draft picks at wide receiver with potentially three more?

We’ve been witness to Sark’s impressive roster management for years now. Perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that in the span of six weeks this turned into a reload rather than rebuild season. Now, if things break UT’s way, what starts in late August might not end until January 20. 

So, here we are with kickoff just hours away. As always, the goal will be to improve throughout the season. That makes the starting point rather interesting. Does this team have it in it to be great, and, if so, how far do they have to go to get there?

Aspects independent of opponent

Week 1 has the potential to expose or highlight team focus, discipline, and conditioning. Harkening back to the Rice opener last season, certain units weren’t covered in glory. It ended up being a temperamental opening to the season, though it was mostly understood the program was looking forward to the Week 2 opponent — Alabama. 

It should be expected the Colorado State defense will throw new looks at the Texas offense, just as many teams did last year. It shouldn’t matter because focus and discipline should lead to execution on offense and assignment soundness on defense. 

On offense I’ll be looking for zero dead ball penalties, zero turnovers, and few drops. On defense, I’d like to see turnovers forced, pressure on the quarterback, and good tackling. 

Despite going 5-7 last season, Colorado State presents some interesting early season challenges. 

Aspects specific to opponent 

Perhaps the most maligned unit from the 2024 season was the secondary. At times I think the secondary, or the secondary coaching, was unfairly blamed but they certainly weren’t as consistent as the year before. Without a doubt, the secondary draws the toughest challenge of the game as the Rams Air-Raid passing attack features talent at quarterback in Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and wide receiver Tory Horton. Horton is the tip of the spear for a fine complement of receivers, including one time Texas commit Armani Winfield. 

The ball is going to get out quick to players in space. This means tackling will be paramount. 

Mesh (receivers crossing at medium depth) is a favored concept and that’s something Texas struggled with at times last year. It’s certain to keep Texas in zone rather than man, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. I will be curious to see how the DB’s and LB’s interact in coverage.

Staying on that side of the ball, Colorado State has a respectable offensive line, especially in the interior with a couple of guys who will at least end up in NFL camps. If the Texas DT’s can dominate similarly to how they did last year against Rice, that will offer increased hope for the position group this season. 

On offense, Texas should be able to light up the Rams in the passing game due to a handful of factors: lack of pass rushers, lack of speed at Mike linebacker and safety, and spacing. Whoever starts at slot for Texas could have a big day. Colorado State does have a talented cornerback in 6-foot-3, 195 pound Dom Jones who could negate Texas’ boundary wide receiver.

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Norvell’s defense is definitely better suited to stopping the run but that shouldn’t matter against Texas. Let’s see a good push up front thanks to Texas power advantage. Getting tough yards in the trenches on 3rd or 4th down or goal line was not a team strength last season. We need to see improvement in that regard.