Longhorns feeling loose and ready to go in prep for season opener
The 2023 college football season is upon us and perhaps the only people more excited than the fans to see what No. 11 Texas has in store for us are the Longhorns themselves.
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The Longhorns will be 35-point favorites to beat Rice when the two longtime foes square off for the 97th time, this one on Saturday in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Texas has played only three other programs more often than Rice: Oklahoma (118), Texas A&M (118) and Baylor (112).
It’s the first meeting between the teams since 2021 in a series in Texas leads 74-21-1 and has won 15 straight against the Owls. The Longhorns have won 43 of their last 44 contests against Rice dating back to 1966.
On Monday, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said his team is ready and excited to begin the season.
“Obviously this is an exciting time for us, our fans, our students,” Sarkisian said. “I am excited that we get to have our fans back in DKR, our students, it’s going to be a great atmosphere.
“But for us, you know, it’s about our preparation. When we prepare our best, we’ve got great energy every day we walk into the building, every day we go on the practice field and we’ve got really good focus and intent with what we’re doing to get ourselves prepared for the ballgame. That’s what it’s going to take.
“This is our first shot at putting all that together. And hopefully by 2:30 on Saturday, we’ll be ready to go.”
Sarkisian said some of the team’s veterans – namely receiver Xavier Worthy and defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat – have taken it upon themselves to lighten up the preparation and bring some smiles to their teammates faces.
Sweat also has a playful side, and he’s taken up the mantle as the defensive line’s jokester. When he says something funny, his fellow players laugh a lot, and they better.
“I’m just like ‘why we always be so uptight?’ he said last week. “I gotta crack a joke or two just to loosen us up and just have fun with it. I gotta keep the room a little loose.”
Sarkisian explained that every year the personality a team is a little bit different and predicated on some of the players that are the veterans and are a little bit more comfortable.
“You can be loose but when the ball snapped, how do you play and neither of those guys play a loose brand of football when that ball snapped,” Sarkisian said. “They’re very intentional. They’re very smart players. They study, they know what to do, how to do and why we’re doing it.
“You don’t want to be where everybody’s so tight they can’t function but they got to make sure we’re honed in on our business crossing every T, dotting every I.”
