The Texas Longhorns won their third game of the 2022 NCAA College football season on Saturday by a final score of 38-20 over the West Virginia Mountaineers. Many Austinites would say this season has a very different feeling. So how has the young team heightened the expectations of this very early season? Are the Longhorns about to take things to a new level?
The results don’t lie, as the Texas Longhorns have sustained many losing seasons throughout the last decade. Since Colt McCoy last played on the 40 acres in 2009, the Texas Longhorns have only won 5 bowl games. However, many Longhorns fans feel differently about this season. Why shouldn’t they be? It’s only a matter of time until that dark grey cloud that looms over Darrell K Royal Stadium clears up.
Heading into this new season, plenty of storylines were on the horizon. A new era of Longhorn football was about, to begin with, the debut of former five-star recruit out of South Lake Texas, Quin Ewers. Touted as the number one quarterback recruit out of high school in 2020, Quin had plenty of colleges looking at picking him up. After a short stint as the backup to the now Bears starting quarterback Justin Fields at Ohio State, Quin returned to Texas, where he began his mission to earn the starting job. After a rough first year as head coach, where Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns went 5-7, there was no seat hotter than the one that Sark was occupying.
The Texas Longhorns came into the first game of the season swinging hard as they began the campaign with a one-sided blowout. The Longhorns started their season with a dominating win over the University of Louisiana Monroe with a final score of 52-10. According to author Evan Kirschner of Burnt Orange Nation, Ewers had an average start to his college debut, completing 16 out of 22 passes for 225 yards with two touchdowns. Kirschner said, “Ewers led the Longhorn offense with a 16-of-22 passing performance with 225 yards and two touchdowns.” The season was just beginning, and Quin had made some plays that had fans optimistic as the Texas Longhorns would host the nation’s number one ranked team in the country, the Alabama Crimson Tide, the following week.
This rivalry runs deep. Like the cowboys or patriots in the NFL, if you are not an Alabama Crimson Tide fan, chances are you don’t like them at all. However, its different in the Longhorn community, as the organization is still haunted by the loss to the Tide in the 2010 National Championship game. While that game sparked Alabama’s dynasty, UT fell into a deep losing streak that has lasted nearly a decade. However, with the addition of Ewers under center, the horns came into the game ready to play.
Texas’s second season game was a rollercoaster ride as the Longhorns would fall to Alabama with a final score of 20-19. Quin played well, showing off his deep ball accuracy and poise in the pocket before he sustained an injury to his left elbow. The Longhorns sideline became silent as the medical staff responded to the injured quarterback. After Quin was escorted off the field, backup quarterback Hudson Card entered the game. In the end, the Crimson Tide’s offense was too much for the Longhorn’s defense to cover, as they would earn their first loss of the season; however, controversy began as some fans began questioning some of the officiating after the game.
One of those people would be none other than former USC star quarterback Matt Leinart. Like many longhorns faithful, the former Heisman and National Champion had some complaints regarding the officiating following Alabama’s road win. After the game, Leinart took to Twitter, writing, “Texas should have won that game. They will kick themselves watching this film. Absolutely will be gutted. Also, the refs didn’t help. I don’t like using refs as an excuse but my god sometimes it’s blatant.” Following the loss, plenty of fans were upset but optimistic for the future as the horns only lost to the number one ranked team in the nation by a single point.
After the news broke that Quin Ewers had sustained an SC sprain, backup quarterback Hudson Card would start the next two games for UT. The team would both win and lose a game under Card as the horns would beat the UTSA Roadrunners at home and lose to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock. Questions began to arise about the reactivation of Ewers leading into Texas’s game against West Virginia; however, ESPN analyst Pete Thamel released information stating that Ewers would remain inactive on the depth chart till the Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma. Thamel said, “A return against the Sooners would mark four weeks after Ewers was injured, with sources indicating that is the earliest he would be expected to be available to play.” Later that day, the Longhorns’ offense would dominate the Mountaineers’ defense as they would improve to 3-0 on this early season.
Whether it was narrowly losing to Alabama or putting up dominant performances against West Virginia and UL Monroe, the Longhorns have had a wild start to the season. Fans are growing impatient and want to experience a winning culture now. Only with time will the college football gods choose whether to grant horns fans their wish.
Sources:
1. ) Kirschner, E. (2022, September 4). Sunday armchair QB – Texas vs. Louisiana-Monroe Edition. Burnt Orange Nation. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.burntorangenation.com/2022/9/4/23336731/texas-longhorns-louisiana-monroe-warhawks-quinn-ewers-jatavion-sanders-dshawn-jamison
2.) Machlin, T. (2022, September 12). Matt Leinart blames Alabama vs. Texas refs: Fans react. The Spun: What’s Trending In The Sports World Today. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://thespun.com/more/top-stories/matt-leinart-blames-alabama-vs-texas-refs-fans-react
3.) Thamel, P. (2022, October 1). Texas QB quinn ewers out vs. West Virginia, focuses on return vs. rival Oklahoma, sources say. ESPN. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34700809/texas-qb-quinn-ewers-vs-west-virginia-focuses-return-vs-rival-oklahoma-sources-say