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After a long weekend of exciting football, Texas players are ready for the challenge of the Swamp

by: Evan Vieth6 hours ago
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Michael Taaffe (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Most of us spent Saturday in one spot: on the couch, tuned into one of the best weeks of college football, not just this year, but in the past few seasons.

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You have to love when early-season games show out like the ones over Texas’ bye week. Friday night saw one of the fastest field stormings in human history as the Virginia Cavaliers took down a top-10 Florida State team.

A day later, Dan Lanning marched into Happy Valley and darkened the mood of a whiteout crowd, winning a 2OT thriller. At the same time, Alabama QB Ty Simpson began his Heisman campaign with a lights-out performance at Georgia.

It’s hard to argue that there will be any home crowds quite like the ones in State College and Athens this past weekend.

“That whiteout was crazy. Seeing all those fans, that was really cool,” Texas safety Michael Taaffe said. “What it does to me is like, it makes it so real. It makes it so you can be so grateful for the game because you’re sitting on the couch and all you’re thinking about is like, man, I wanted to make that pick. Man, I wanted to make that play.”

Heading into the season, a game at The Swamp in Florida felt like it would reach the levels of Beaver or Sanford Stadium. A reignited Gators team, led by the young DJ Lagway, was expected to be a top-20 team in the nation. The idea of a game under the lights at Ben Hill Griffin as the Longhorns came into town sounded like as rowdy an environment as you can find in college football.

Unfortunately for Gator fans, this Florida team hasn’t held up its end of the bargain. They’re 1-3 on the year, and a game that seemed like a gimme primetime game will be played at 2:30.

Still, Texas players know what kind of environment they’re coming into.

“It’s going to be unbelievable,” WR Parker Livingstone said. “I’ve heard a lot of great things about it… I’m excited to play in The Swamp.”

This will be the first time that pretty much any player on this Texas roster has played a college game in Florida, though many have ties back to the state through recruiting and family.

Of course, when talking about the impacts of crowd noise and hostile environments, all eyes look toward the quarterback of the road team. Texas quarterback Arch Manning dealt with that in Columbus four weeks ago, walking into the eye of a 100,000+ fan storm that seemed to rattle him throughout the afternoon. This time, though, Manning has the help of some familiar names to prepare him.

“Peyton and Eli both played there and they said it’s the real deal,” Manning said about his Hall of Fame uncles. “We’re excited to get down there.”

Texas has adopted a road warrior mentality over Steve Sarkisian’s tenure, having won 11 of its last 12 true road games. The Longhorns are going to have to be well-equipped for that mentality, as they won’t play at home until the beginning of November.

“It’s going to be a road warrior mentality,” Taaffe said. “But you can’t look too far ahead. Today’s the most important day, and Florida’s a really good team with really good talent and a really good coach.”

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