The Texas Longhorns are coming off of their best season since 2009. They left the Big 12 in 2023 how they entered it in 1996 – by winning a conference championship. The Longhorns also found themselves in the College Football Playoff for the first time. Despite coming up short against Washington in the College Football Playoff Semifinals, Steve Sarkisian and his team will be looking for more in 2024.
The Southeastern (SEC) will present many more challenges to the Longhorns. Texas fans may be tired of hearing about the football prowess of SEC teams but much of the discourse around the SEC is accurate. The SEC presents a challenge week-in and week-out with no shortage of NFL-level talent on the opposing team each week. Saturday’s will be more than they were in the Big 12, where Oklahoma and an array of overachievers such as Oklahoma State or Kansas State were the standard on the opposite sideline.
With that being said, Texas has a tremendous amount of talent themselves and will rise to the challenge as they move into SEC play. Let’s take a look at what proper expectations should be for the 2024 Longhorns and how they can meet them.
Beating A&M and Oklahoma is a Must
Texas and Texas A&M will play this year for first time in thirteen years. This game has been missed by all involved regardless of what was said by administrators across the board. The Lone Star Showdown is an historic rivalry game for alumni, fans of either school and for general college football fans with no rooting interest.
It’s great that is has finally returned.
Similar to how everyone remembers Texas won the final game on Justin Tucker’s field goal in 2011, everyone will remember who wins the first game as foes in the SEC. There will be hundreds of recruits on-hand for this game, giving Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns a chance to claim a big win in front of the many recruits they will battle Texas A&M for.
Sarkisian very well could be 3-0 against Oklahoma but instead he enters year four with a 1-2 record against the Sooners. In 2021 Texas blew a 21 point lead before losing a heartbreaker, 55-48. Texas followed that with monumental 49-0 win in 2022 before the Sooners delivered another heart-wrencher in 2023, winning 34-30 on a last second touchdown. Even with all the great things Sark has done as the head coach at Texas, he can’t afford to go 1-3 against his arch rival. Coaches are judged by their wins and losses against rivals and Sark has a great opportunity with Texas A&M and Oklahoma on the schedule in 2024 to right the ship in the rivarly department.
Return to the College Football Playoff
The Longhorns made their first appearance in the College Football Playoff last season. What was a four team playoff then, has expanded to twelve teams. In this larger format, the Longhorns need to make the playoff more years than not. Texas should be a Top-12 program every December and in the thick of postseason play, especially if things continue to progress as they have under Sarkisian.
How do the Longhorns make sure they get back to the Playoff this season? It starts and ends with junior quarterback Quinn Ewers. Ewers is a rare player who is in his third year in Sark’s system as the starter. He has all the physical tools of a future NFL quarterback and now has the knowledge and experience to go with them. The 2024 Longhorns will go as far as Quinn Ewers takes them, and that can be all the way to the top if he plays to his ability on a consistent basis and avoids injury.
