College GameDay projects headlines from Week 1 matchup between Texas, Ohio State

‘College GameDay’ will be in Columbus on August 30th for one of the first games on the official opening to the season with No. 1 Texas vs. No. 3 Ohio State, which officially became a top-three matchup between the Longhorns and Buckeyes on Monday. With that, ESPN’s Rece Davis and Pete Thamel made an early preview of what we’ll all be talking about coming out of that one, with it being a playoff rematch from seven months ago in the Cotton Bowl.

Earlier this offseason on the ‘College GameDay Podcast’, Davis and Thamel read off some possible headlines that’ll be made from the week one result of Texas vs. Ohio State. Davis began with the ‘horns up as, at that point, he thinks that Texas comes in, wins, and likely creates a lot of overreactions about both teams coming out of the first game for each.

“You’ll learn that the SEC gets road bragging rights in this one,” said Davis.

“So, reserving the right to change the picks? Here’s what I say,” Davis said. “As the day unfolds, because those games are staggered, the end of the noon window – Texas and Ohio State? Here’s the immediate overreaction – Texas is going to win it all and Arch is going to win the Heisman! Oh my goodness, they just went into the Horseshoe and beat the reigning champions! And also, oh no, what’s wrong with Ohio State?! Both of those will be massive overreactions.”

Going deeper, Davis thinks Texas proves itself in this opener in more aspects than one. That starts in the trenches and also includes their quarterback living up to some of the unbelievable early hype of him.

“I will also build up – we’ll find out that Texas can answer the questions that people have about them, which the questions are how are they going to be on the offensive line and how are they going to be on the defensive line? And, I think the answer will be just fine…I think you’ll learn that,” said Davis. “I also think, to segue you into Arch? I think he told you or said widely yesterday that he hadn’t really done anything to deserve the attention he was getting and one game will not merit the amount of attention he will get as a result of this. But it will certainly be a giant step in that direction. I think you’ll find out why the anticipation is high.”

Then, with the other point, Davis thinks there’ll be some overblown concerns about the pass game considering the new names at offensive coordinator and quarterback. That could reflect most in the game that their superstar wide receiver does or, in this case, doesn’t have that afternoon.

“You know, it’ll be fascinating with Ohio State also, whoever the quarterback is?…I wonder with how, you know, I say new coordinator – it is, Brian Hartline but he’s, you know, been a brilliant receivers coach and Brian’s obviously been heavily involved in the offense. But, I wonder about Jeremiah Smith and the new quarterback and everything,” said Davis. “With the new quarterback, what have you got in the bag to make sure that Jeremiah Smith doesn’t have to hit a go-ball or doesn’t have to hit a, you know, 18-yard dig in order to get a touch? And I know they’ve got that within their scheme and everything, but see if they spread it out, get him moving around a little bit, and then let the young quarterback, whichever one it is, see if he can get going a little bit.”

That’s all going to lead to even more attention on this top-three playoff rematch. However, Thamel actually thinks that, considering the changes for both teams, this game might not live up to any of these expectations of it as, to him, it could shape up to be a methodical, low-scoring game between the two.

“I think this could be a low-scoring game – so much new, two remade offensive lines, two inexperienced quarterbacks…Just, yeah, I think that there will be a feeling-out process. I think, sometimes, we anticipate these openers so much and we sit around, we talk about them, we hype them up and we forget that opening week in college football is usually kind of a bloody mess, right. Like, there’s mistakes, there’s pre-snaps, there’s adjustments, especially in this portal era with so many news guys,” said Thamel. “I think that game will be a very compelling slog. And I think both coaches start calling some plays…and manage that game against their generally wide-open instincts. I think they’re going to punt, get some field position and see if somebody is going to give it away. I don’t think anyone’s going to stake that thing and win it in the first half. I think there’s going to be some prodding and some back-and-forth and some big defensive plays, and see where the momentum strikes.”

“It’s going to be unbelievable, unbelievable theatre,” said Thamel.

Texas-Ohio State has been much-anticipated for the duration of this year, with us now being less than three weeks out from it kicking off. That’ll lead to all kinds of postgame reaction to it nationally, including possibly some of these depending on the outcome that afternoon in Columbus.