On Texas Football: How big is the Longhorns’ game against Alabama?
On the latest video episode of On Texas Football’s State of the Program, Inside Texas’s Bobby Burton and Eric Nahlin discuss the importance of the 11th-ranked Longhorns’ game against No. 3 Alabama on Saturday as well as breaking down spots where Texas could have an advantage over the Crimson Tide.
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Burton opined that there is no bigger week than this one for the Longhorns.
“They haven’t played in Tuscaloosa since 1902 – It’s been 121 years since Texas has gone to Tuscaloosa,” Burton said. “It’s a big game to say the least for the Longhorn program.”
Burton then asked Nahlin, the publisher of InsideTexas.com “what does this game mean to Texas as a program?”
“It’s got a chance to legitimize what Steve Sarkisian is doing, what he’s building at Texas,” Nahlin responded. “You can legitimize the strong offseason that we believe he’s had and the program building that we believe he’s had since his first year where they hit the skids halfway through the season. It’s a huge game. You know, this is one that could get the attention of the national media.
“But for me, it’s important in a practical sense. If they win this game you know that they’re going to be at the top. There’ll be talks about potentially making the playoffs. It’s far too early to really have those conversations but if they win this game, they have a little bit of leeway heading into conference to actually make the playoffs and not just win the conference, and maybe even take this season to the next one.”
But is there a chance that there is too much meaning attached to the game?
“You gotta kind of revert to what the goals were at the beginning of the season,” Nahlin explained. “You want to play the best you possibly can and take the country by storm if possible. So that’s a huge opportunity.
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“But if Texas does lose, everything’s still ahead of them. I mean the world doesn’t come crashing down if they lose on Saturday night. But things look really, really rosy if they do win, so I think it’s a little bit of both.”
Both teams, according to Nahlin, have defensive lines that are superior to their offensive counterparts and both should control the trenches.
“The Texas defensive line has a good chance to control that side of the ball and Alabama is going to have some of the same advantages that Texas has, specifically defensive line versus offensive line,” Nahlin said. “But given the fact that Alabama is going to be more of a run-oriented offense, the deep Texas defensive line can have an enormous impact on the game if they can box in (Alabama quarterback) Jalen Milroe.
“Alabama can get pushed around on their offensive line because it just lacks cohesion. You could tell that even last week in the win against Middle Tennessee State. They’re very big, but they’re susceptible to mental mistakes similar to how Texas was in its opener.”
There’s plenty more to glean from the video so go check it out in its entirety.
