Texas Makes Case As Best Team In Country, While Michigan Shows How Far And Fast It's Fallen | Barrett Sallee
Remember that whole "Texas is Back" meme that all of us did late in the 2010s and early this decade? If you didn’t think that got put to rest last season when the Longhorns made the College Football Playoff, you do now.
The third-ranked Longhorns’ 31-12 beatdown of No. 3 Michigan in Ann Arbor was a statement among statements, and further solidified coach Steve Sarkisian’s crew as one of the sports’ juggernauts that intends to stay in the middle of the national championship conversation for years to come.
Sark has made Austin a destination for superstar quarterbacks, as Quinn Ewers - who threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns - transferred to the program from Ohio State following the 2021 season. Arch Manning has waited for two years behind Ewers, and is set to be the game’s next star next season.
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - SEPTEMBER 07: Quinn Ewers #3 of the Texas Longhorns rushes during the first quarter against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium on September 07, 2024 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Plus, Sark has mastered the portal and the NIL world, which includes a mutually beneficial relationships with Lamborghini.
The Longhorns aren’t going anywhere in the near future.
What about this year, though?
The dominating win over the defending national champs not only re-confirms their place in the pecking order. What about this year, though? Texas has a case to be the No. 1 team in the country. Yes, above Georgia.
Nobody in the country has a win as important as the one Sark and Co. pulled off in Ann Arbor. The offense is clearly in great hands, but the defense has come together in a big way. The only touchdown the ‘Horns have given up all season came with two minutes to go in the game when the twos were on the field.
Is Texas back? Yes. It is back and better than ever. It’ll get a chance to prove it again on October 19 when it will host the true beast of the sport - the Georgia Bulldogs.
Meanwhile, Michigan, Woof
No. 10 Michigan lost quarterback JJ McCarthy, running back Blake Corum, a medium-sized village of stars off of a stellar defense and coach Jim Harbaugh from last year’s national championship squad, and it showed.
The Longhorns owned the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, made life miserable for new Wolverines quarterback Davis Warren and controlled the biggest game of the young season from the outset. Warren finished the game with 204 yards, one touchdown in garbage time and two critical interceptions.
Was it an indictment of Michigan? Not really. After all, this is a Longhorns’ team that is loaded with talent and experience, and should be one of the favorites to make the College Football Playoff. It was, however, a clear indication that Michigan is not ready to be a superpower or dynasty in any way, shape or form.
ANN ARBOR, MI - SEPTEMBER 07: Michigan Wolverines quarterback Davis Warren (16) throws wide during the Michigan Wolverines versus the Texas Longhorns game on Saturday September 7, 2024 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, MI. (Photo by Steven King/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
However, it’s clear that coach Sherrone Moore is not in a position to lead this team into the same stratosphere as Florida under Urban Meyer, Alabama in the 2010s, Clemson in its prime and the current Georgia Bulldogs. In fact, it might fall into a more inauspicious fraternity.
Sometimes teams come out of nowhere, the stars align perfectly, and magical seasons result in the ultimate glory.
Take Auburn in 2010, for example. Cam Newton transferred in from Blinn College and led a team that wasn’t exactly loaded with superstars to a national championship. Those Tigers, sans Newton, sputtered to an 8-5 season in 2011. LSU’s 2019 national championship team had a loaded, NFL-level roster. But it’s not like coach Ed Orgeron was in the same fraternity as Meyer, Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney. It showed the following year when his Tigers went 5-5 and were as disorganized and disinterested as any defending national champion in recent memory.
That’s not to say that Michigan is going to fall off a cliff. It won’t. However, it clearly took a massive step back from the last three years of the Harbaugh run that included three straight trips to the College Football Playoff and the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship.
Maybe Connor Stalions really was that important.