Welcome to the HornSports Forum

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our Texas Longhorns message board community.

SignUp Now!

Hornsports Pick'em –Week 1

Sirhornsalot

**The Official Horn Sports Landscaper and Landscap
Joined
Nov 6, 2013
Messages
33,307
The 2025 season's first real weekend is here and there are a number of high qualiity match ups ini Week 1, headlined by our own #1 Texas Longhorrns going on the road to take on the defending National Champions and #3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.

Both teams haave stocked talent through the last few years so even though they both lost some key players to the draft, the talent is still there to more than compete for a National Title. Either team could lose this game and still make the college football playoff.

Ohio State defeated the Longhorns in the playoffs last year. Steve Sarkisian's record against teams that have beat him is practically perfect. He and his teams have beaten those teams in the following years.

Both Texas and Ohio State lost their quarterbacks to the draft so both start with new leadership under center. I don't expect anything spectacular from Julian Sayin, just sayin. He was a 5-star in HS and transferred from Bama once Saban retired. I think they'll keep their offensive gameplan more vanilla than they would like to. They'll focus on just getting the ball to their star playmakers, including a WR who is probably the best in the country.

Texas' Arch Manning saw some key action last year, starting two games and playinig three quarters of another after Ewers was injured. Some folks say Manning is an improvement at QB over Ewers. He can run and he can throw the long ball, both limiting factors for the Horns' under Ewers.

Playing in the Shoe is never an easy task. But we've won there before, at night. This time, it's an afternoon affair.

Give me Texas to pull this one out in heroic fashion.

Due to a couple of games being played on Friday, your picks need to be posted by Thursday, end of day.

Other games to pick.

#8 Alabama at Florida State

#9 LSU at #4 Clemson

#6 Notre Dame at #10 Miami

Nebraska at Cincinnati

Auburn at Baylor (Friday)

Georgia Tech at Colorado (Friday)

Syracuse at #14 Tennessee

Utah at UCLA

Cal at Oregon State

Virginia Tech at #13 South Carolina

TIE BREAKER – Predict the final score of Texas at Ohio State.
 
Last edited:
The 2025 season's first real weekend is here and there are a number of high qualiity match ups ini Week 1, headlined by our own #1 Texas Longhorrns going on the road to take on the defending National Champions and #3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.

Both teams haave stocked talent through the last few years so even though they both lost some key players to the draft, the talent is still there to more than compete for a National Title. Either team could lose this game and still make the college football playoff.

Ohio State defeated the Longhorns in the playoffs last year. Steve Sarkisian's record against teams that have beat him is practically perfect. He and his teams have beaten those teams in the following years.

Both Texas and Ohio State lost their quarterbacks to the draft so both start with new leadership under center. I don't expect anything spectacular from Julian Sayin, just sayin. He was a 5-star in HS and transferred from Bama once Saban retired. I think they'll keep their offensive gameplan more vanilla than they would like to. They'll focus on just getting the ball to their star playmakers, including a WR who is probably the best in the country.

Texas' Arch Manning saw some key action last year, starting two games and playinig three quarters of another after Ewers was injured. Some folks say Manning is an improvement at QB over Ewers. He can run and he can throw the long ball, both limiting factors for the Horns' under Ewers.

Playing in the Shoe is never an easy task. But we've won there before, at night. This time, it's an afternoon affair.

Give me Texas to pull this one out in heroic fashion.

Due to a couple of games being played on Friday, your picks need to be posted by Thursday, end of day.

Other games to pick.

#8 Alabama at Florida State

#9 LSU at #4 Clemson

#6 Notre Dame at #10 Miami

Nebraska at Cincinnati

Auburn at Baylor (Friday)

Georgia Tech at Colorado (Friday)

Syracuse at #14 Tennessee

Utah at UCLA

Cal at Oregon State

Virginia Tech at #13 South Carolina

TIE BREAKER – Predict the final score of Texas at Ohio State.
Sark's teams didn't beat Washington in consecutive years, correct?
 
I'll start . . .

#8 Alabama

#4 Clemson

#6 Notre Dame

Nebraska

Baylor (Friday)

Georgia Tech

#14 Tennessee

UCLA

Oregon State

#13 South Carolina

Texas 24
Ohio State 21
 
Bama
Clemson
Notre Dame
Nebraska
Baylor
GT
Ten
Utah
Oregon St
S Carolina

Tie Breaker:
Horns 23 - bucks 20
 
Alabama

LSU

Notre Dame

Nebraska

Auburn

Georgia Tech

Tennessee

UCLA

Oregon State

South Carolina

TIE BREAKER

Texas 45
The Ohio State University 17
 
Alabama
Clemson
Notre Dame
Nebraska
Baylor
Ga Tech
Tennessee
Utah
Oregon St
South Carolina
Texas 31-14
 
#8 Alabama

#4 Clemson

#6 Notre Dame

Nebraska

Auburn

Georgia Tech

#14 Tennessee

Utah

Oregon State

#13 South Carolina

TIE BREAKER – all the hype you heard about Arch Manning this offseason is just about met this game. We will need to pass our way to victory as I don’t think the run game will find its stride. While Arch will have some challenges he will be efficient and does the job for Texas to win 27-21.

Biggest concern - Manny vs J Smith - Manny is a good corner but he struggled at the end of the year. Can he fix it?

Biggest surprise - how good the Texas D line is.
 
#8 Alabama

Clemson

Notre Dame

Nebraska

Baylor

Georgia Tech

Tennessee

Utah

Cal

South Carolina

Texas 30 Ohio state 24
 
Last edited:
#8 Alabama

Clemson

Notre Dame

Nebraska

Auburn at Baylor (Friday)

Georgia Tech

Tennessee

Utah

Cal

South Carolina

Texas 30 Ohio state 24

You need to make a pick on the Auburn-Baylor game FYI . . unless you're predicting a tie.
 
#8 Alabama at Florida State - roll tide and roll they will. The Seminoles start another rough season with a good ol' fashion butt kicking.

#9 LSU at #4 Clemson - a couple of seasoned QBs go after this seemingly tight game. Both teams better come out ready to play or losing coach's seat gets a little hotter this week. Going with the home team.

#6 Notre Dame at #10 Miami - Carson Beck in a Hurricane uni!?! A loss here could hurt the teams SOS with only a couple of ranked teams so far. This ain't N. Illinois so the golden domers eke out a close one.

Nebraska at Cincinnati - there's a reason this game is on Thursday. 2 middle of the road teams duking it out. A loss here and you can kiss bowl eligibility good-bye. Does anyone care? I'm going with the Corn shuckers in a snoozer no matter what the score.

Auburn at Baylor (Friday) - Is this the year Auburn turns it around? Can Jackson Arnold lead them to bowl eligibility? The Tigers take their first step.

Georgia Tech at Colorado (Friday) - It's Georgia Tech in Prime time under the Friday night lights over the Buffs

Syracuse at #14 Tennessee - both teams with new QBs and RBs. I'm leaning towards the Volunteers.

Utah at UCLA - another couple of teams in a rebuilding year. Winner gets some false hope for a couple of weeks anyway. I'm going with the home dog.

Cal at Oregon State - another west coast snoozer. let me know who wins this one in the morning. Sticking with the home team.

Virginia Tech at #13 South Carolina - the Gamecocks win this one fairly easily

TIE BREAKER – Predict the final score of Texas at Ohio State.
Texas 28 Ohio State 24
 
A post from another board:

Can't believe I'm mostly agreeing with Finebaum. When I look at this on paper, it seems a bit lopsided. Brand new small, skinny, relatively immobile QB for OSU. OL that's questionable in quality. DL that lost everyone and is questionable in quality. OSU loaded up on NIL to have the deepest roster in the country in '24 for a title run. They didn't repeat that this off-season. They didn't go get the experienced QB. They didn't load up on DL even though they lost everyone. They hired a DC who was a Belichick puppet and has sucked everywhere else he's been except under Belichick.

We've leveled up. Better QB. Better RB room. Possibly better TE room. Massive DL influx of talent that's mostly performed on this level before.

This should be a Texas 33 OSU 13 type of game. I keep wondering what I'm missing, but this really seems like OSU got their title and is accepting a rebuilding season at QB and in the trenches.
 
A post from another board:

Can't believe I'm mostly agreeing with Finebaum. When I look at this on paper, it seems a bit lopsided. Brand new small, skinny, relatively immobile QB for OSU. OL that's questionable in quality. DL that lost everyone and is questionable in quality. OSU loaded up on NIL to have the deepest roster in the country in '24 for a title run. They didn't repeat that this off-season. They didn't go get the experienced QB. They didn't load up on DL even though they lost everyone. They hired a DC who was a Belichick puppet and has sucked everywhere else he's been except under Belichick.

We've leveled up. Better QB. Better RB room. Possibly better TE room. Massive DL influx of talent that's mostly performed on this level before.

This should be a Texas 33 OSU 13 type of game. I keep wondering what I'm missing, but this really seems like OSU got their title and is accepting a rebuilding season at QB and in the trenches.
That's quite a rosy take...Ohio state isn't replacing last years players with scrubs. I don't disagree with the final outcome being a Texas win but that big of a blowout is unlikely.
 
I don't tend to pick all the games, I really don't know enough about other teams but I like to make specific predicitons about the Texas game.

I do think OSU will struggle to score more than 20 points in this game. I like the DTs we are bringing and have great depth, the edges will get after the QB. The best LB in the country. Some questions at DB but we have a lot of really good possible answers there. Covering WRs will be a easier given the likelihood of a really good pass rush.
 
The 2025 season's first real weekend is here and there are a number of high qualiity match ups ini Week 1, headlined by our own #1 Texas Longhorrns going on the road to take on the defending National Champions and #3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.

Both teams haave stocked talent through the last few years so even though they both lost some key players to the draft, the talent is still there to more than compete for a National Title. Either team could lose this game and still make the college football playoff.

Ohio State defeated the Longhorns in the playoffs last year. Steve Sarkisian's record against teams that have beat him is practically perfect. He and his teams have beaten those teams in the following years.

Both Texas and Ohio State lost their quarterbacks to the draft so both start with new leadership under center. I don't expect anything spectacular from Julian Sayin, just sayin. He was a 5-star in HS and transferred from Bama once Saban retired. I think they'll keep their offensive gameplan more vanilla than they would like to. They'll focus on just getting the ball to their star playmakers, including a WR who is probably the best in the country.

Texas' Arch Manning saw some key action last year, starting two games and playinig three quarters of another after Ewers was injured. Some folks say Manning is an improvement at QB over Ewers. He can run and he can throw the long ball, both limiting factors for the Horns' under Ewers.

Playing in the Shoe is never an easy task. But we've won there before, at night. This time, it's an afternoon affair.

Give me Texas to pull this one out in heroic fashion.

Due to a couple of games being played on Friday, your picks need to be posted by Thursday, end of day.

Other games to pick.

#8 Alabama at Florida State

#9 LSU at #4 Clemson

#6 Notre Dame at #10 Miami

Nebraska at Cincinnati

Auburn at Baylor (Friday)

Georgia Tech at Colorado (Friday)

Syracuse at #14 Tennessee

Utah at UCLA

Cal at Oregon State

Virginia Tech at #13 South Carolina

TIE BREAKER – Predict the final score of Texas at Ohio State.

Bama

Clemson

ND

children of the corn

Baylor

GT

Tenn

Utah

South Carolina

Texas v. Ohio State -- Sayin is more mobile and pocket awareness than most give him credit for. Plus, he isn't that skinny at over 210 lbs. Expect a lot of early quick throws with screens for him. Then add that Peoples isn't a bad back to go with 5* Inniss, however his name is spelled, with Tate and Smith along with the 2 TEs from the portal there is no vanilla offense. Downs is still a safety there with several 5* and high 4* stars corners and safeties. Their lines I haven't looked at, but they aren't recruiting bad in those spots and really haven't done a lot of portal guys for the lines either, that I can recall. Keep them much like the last time we visited with mostly FGs and us with TDs to win. Texas 35 Ohio State 27
 
I'll start . . .

#8 Alabama

#4 Clemson

#6 Notre Dame

Nebraska

Baylor (Friday)

Georgia Tech

#14 Tennessee

UCLA

Oregon State

#13 South Carolina

Texas 24
Ohio State 21
Im going with these picks but with the Texas /OSU game I'm going with
Texas 30
Ohio State 21
 
A post from another board:

Can't believe I'm mostly agreeing with Finebaum. When I look at this on paper, it seems a bit lopsided. Brand new small, skinny, relatively immobile QB for OSU. OL that's questionable in quality. DL that lost everyone and is questionable in quality. OSU loaded up on NIL to have the deepest roster in the country in '24 for a title run. They didn't repeat that this off-season. They didn't go get the experienced QB. They didn't load up on DL even though they lost everyone. They hired a DC who was a Belichick puppet and has sucked everywhere else he's been except under Belichick.

We've leveled up. Better QB. Better RB room. Possibly better TE room. Massive DL influx of talent that's mostly performed on this level before.

This should be a Texas 33 OSU 13 type of game. I keep wondering what I'm missing, but this really seems like OSU got their title and is accepting a rebuilding season at QB and in the trenches.
In regards to 'better TE room', maybe I guess based on quantity, but I feel like Gunnar Helm isn't given enough credit. He came up with so many clutch plays last year....I think we're going to miss him more than we think.
 
Back
Top Bottom