The Longhorns are gearing up to face their first real test of the season—against the Wolverines. They head to Michigan Stadium in Week 2 of the season. While the Longhorns are slight favorites for the game, this is one of those matchups where both teams could quite easily walk away as the winner. So, the Longhorns are taking no chances. They’re going to prepare for this big game in the right way.
This game will likely prove especially tough for the Longhorns since the Wolverines have been undefeated in a regular season game for over two years. However, everybody does seem to think that the Longhorns may finally be a little bit too much for the Wolverines, considering the Wolverines rely heavily on their defense and the Longhorns have the right talents to break down this defense and win the game.
How the Wolverines Play
Part of the challenge against the Wolverines isn’t so much that the Wolverines are a high-scoring team, because they’re not. It is a fact that they have some of the most defensively-abled players in the league. We’ll discuss this more throughout this page. However, going up against the Wolverines is about breaking down their defense as much as possible. The Wolverines like to run down the clock and prevent their opponents from scoring. They then rely on luck to try and get their offense to nab a few points.
Of course, this is something that will work to the advantage of the Longhorns, considering their whole game plan is about offense, rather than defense. So, if there is any team in this league that can break down the Wolverines, it’ll be the Longhorns.
The Offense
Since Steve Sarkisian took over the Longhorns, the team has been working hard on both their defense and their offense, with some long-term signings made. However, while their defense is tremendous—one of the best in the country—it is their offense that will help them to win their match-up against the Wolverines.
Heading to the Wolverines means heading to a high-pressure environment. The stadium is huge, and there’ll be 100,000 screaming voices. Many of these will be screaming against the Longhorns.
We do not doubt that a good chunk of the Longhorns’ preparation will be focused on handling an environment like that. As they’re the away team, the Longhorns will head into the match with a disadvantage (even if they’re the slight favorites), and all it takes is one small mistake on the offense, and the Wolverines could end up capitalizing.
A lot of what the Longhorns need to handle here will be psychological. Their quarterbacks will need to drown out the screaming voices in that room and go for those big plays. If they can get a couple of big plays off at the start of the match, we reckon the Longhorns will walk away as clear winners.
Beyond this, perhaps the biggest hurdle that the Longhorns face will be the Wolverines’ defense. Some are claiming that the Wolverines have the best defense this season. A lot of their preparation will likely be focused on game plans revolving around breaking down the defense of their opposition. Expect players like Silas Bolden and Isaiah Bond to play a key role here.
Breaking down the defense is especially important when facing this Wolverine team. Jim Harbaugh has left the Wolverines, but his playing philosophy has remained—control the game through the clock and defense. If you can make big players on the defense, then you can easily win the game. If the Longhorns struggle to break down the defense, it is game over for them.
The Defense
Since the Wolverines prefer to hit on the break, the Longhorns won’t need to focus too much on their defense if their offense is on par.
In an ideal world, the Longhorns will be heavily focused on ensuring that their defense rarely needs to come into the equation. The Wolverines thrive on keeping the score of the whole game minimal, and hope to win the game in possession when they’re on the attack.
The Longhorns will need to focus quite a bit on ensuring that the talented offense of the Wolverines can’t break through their defensive line. It only takes one slip here, and the Longhorns could end up losing the match. After all, we all know how tough the Wolverines can be in defense (since we already told you that).
The players that the Longhorns will want to focus on nullifying are Edwards and Orji. Although, analysts believe that the Longhorns will have an insanely tough time doing this. So, once again, the prime focus for the Longhorns is going to be on offense if they want to get anything out of this match-up.
On the positive side, the Wolverines don’t have a tremendous offense, so if the Longhorns can nullify it just a little bit, even if they are not able to break down the Wolverine’s defense massively, they should be able to take the win.
How We Think the Game Will Play Out
We probably will be having a bet on the Longhorns for this game, albeit only a money line. It is tough to predict how the game will end outside of that. We’ll make sure to take advantage of a few of the bonuses available in the gambling industry right now, too. You can find current sports betting bonuses at askgamblers.com.
As we said, the Longhorns are currently the favorites to win, even if only by a small margin.
We do believe that if the Longhorns can keep their heads about them when they’re playing on offense, and prepare solidly enough that they have no issues breaking down the Wolverines’ defense, they’ll probably come out as winners. Everything about their game over the last year or so suggests this is the case. However, as we said, it only takes a minor slip-up, and their entire game plan will be thrown out the window.