College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Texas Longhorns season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Texas Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 8-5 overall, 5-4 in Big 12
Head Coach: Tom Herman, 4th year, 25-15
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 18
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 29
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 9
No one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Longhorns Offense 3 Things To Know
– The season might not have been as good record-wise, but the offense was more explosive in 2019 after a good 2018. The Longhorns finished 14th in the nation in total offense, second in scoring offense, and the overall attack was generally strong, but it needed to do more.
Texas was 7-1 when scoring more than 27 points, and 1-4 when it scored that many or fewer.
Almost everyone is back outside of the top two targets, Devin Duvernay and Collin Johnson. Losing Duvernay is the killer – he caught 106 passes, Johnson was second with 38 – but the rest of the parts were really young and are really talented.
Junior Brennan Eagles and sophomore Jake Smith each caught six touchdown passes. In all, six of the key parts coming back were underclassmen for the nation’s 20th-best passing offense.
And they have the quarterback to make them all shine.
CFN in 60 Video: Texas Longhorns Preview
– Sam Ehlinger would’ve been a mid-round draft pick, but the star quarterback returns after throwing all 32 of the team’s touchdown passes for a more efficient and dangerous attack. He’s the veteran Face of the Franchise who threw for 3,663 yards, but the team needs to get the backups some more work. Ehlinger is a pounding of a runner – he takes a whole lot of big shots.
6-1, 190-pound sophomore Casey Thompson completed 8-of-12 passes for 84 yards and ran for a score, but star recruit Hudson Card is going to push hard for the No. 2 gig.
– Is Bijan Robinson ready to be the main man for the running game? The five-star talent out of Arizona spurned all of the other big schools and left Pac-12 country for the Longhorns. The 6-1, 205-pounder can catch, has wonderful vision and balance, and he has the game-changing ability to get the ball and the work right out of the box. However, Texas already has good backs in place.
6-0, 235-pound junior Keaontay Ingram is a big back with nice hands, leading the team with 853 yards and seven scores, and catching 29 passes for 242 yards and three scores. He’s still going to be the No. 1 back, even if Robinson is thrown into the rotation early on.
6-2, 215-pound sophomore Roschon Johnson was third on the team with 649 yards and seven scores – averaging over five yards per carry – and senior Daniel Young is a reliable veteran.
Now the offensive line has to do a bit more.
Samuel Cosmi is one of the nation’s best left tackles – he has top ten overall NFL draft pick potential – and the rest of the line has to fill in around him. Derek Kerstetter can work at guard or center, senior Denzel Okafor should work at right tackle, and there are just enough decent options to fill in the spots. This group will power away for the ground game, but the pass protection has to be a whole lot stronger.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Longhorns Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Longhorns Defense 3 Things To Know
– The defense STILL isn’t fixed. For all of the complaints and screams about how the D couldn’t tackle under Charlie Strong, it’s not like things have been a whole lot better under Tom Herman.
Enter Chris Ash, the former Rutgers head coach who in a previous life was a whale of a defensive coordinator for Wisconsin and Ohio State. Now he takes over a defense that was 97th in the nation, allowing 437 yards per game and got ripped apart by most decent passing games.
How bad have things been for the Texas defense? It allowed 4,753 yards in 2017 – Herman’s first year. It gave up 5,499 in 2018, and 5,609 last year. Worse yet, it allowed 5.19 yards per play in 2017, and 6.11 last season.
– Injuries were a thing – but that’s been part of the equation for several years – and poor tackling has been a problem. The biggest issue? The Big 12 went Big 12, even in a bit of a down year, and LSU was on the schedule. However, giving up 569 yards to Kansas was very much not okay.
It all starts in a secondary that loses safety Brandon Jones but returns a whole lot of guys who had a whole lot of stars next to their recruiting profiles. Caden Sterns is a terrific baller who gets in on just about everything – he misses four games and still finished third on the team in tackles – but it’s up to the corners to start coming up with more picks and more stops. More on that in the Key Player To The Season section.
– The pass rush was fine, but it could do a whole lot more. Gone is Malcolm Roach from one of the ends, but Keondre Coburn is a massive tackle to work around, and Ta’Quon Graham is an NFL-sized interior pass rusher. More flash from the outside would be nice – Graham was second on the team with just 3.5 sacks.
LB Joseph Ossai led the way with a mere five sacks, but he more than did his part. He bulked up, and it would be a huge plus if he turned into even more of a game-changer. Juwan Mitchell is back at his spot in the middle, and then Ash will play around with the rest of the rotation, starting with 6-4, 215-pound junior DeMarvion Overshown on the outside.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top Texas Longhorns Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top Texas Longhorns Players
Best Texas Longhorns Offensive Player
QB Sam Ehlinger, Sr.
Okay, okay, Sam Cosmi is actually the most talented and best player on the team – at least that’s what the NFL types are going to think come draft time – but Ehlinger is the heart-and-soul leader who has been through the wars and has been even better than he gets credit for.
No, he hasn’t won a Big 12 Championship, and no, he hasn’t led the team to the College Football Playoff, but he has thrown for 8,870 yards and 68 touchdowns with 22 picks to go along with 1,525 rushing yards and 25 scores.
The 6-3, 230-pounder has the NFL size, arm, and toughness, and he should be in for another superstar statistical season again.
2. OT Sam Cosmi, Jr.
3. RB Bijan Robinson, Fr.
4. RB Keaontay Ingram, Jr.
5. WR Brennan Eagles, Jr.
Best Texas Longhorns Defensive Player
LB Joseph Ossai, Jr.
The 6-4, 255-pounder had a nice first season with 20 tackles, and then last year it all came together with a team-high 90 stops with five sacks, 13.5 tackles for loss, and two picks.
An all-star in the classroom and soon to be one on the field – at least, more than just receiving honorable mention recognition – he bulked up, should be even more dangerous at getting into the backfield, and he might just grow into even more of a hybrid pass rusher on the outside when he gets his chances. He’s a disruptive force.
2. S Caden Sterns, Jr.
3. DT Ta’Quon Graham, Sr.
4. CB D’Shawn Jamison, Jr.
5. LB Juwan Mitchell, Jr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Longhorns Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Longhorns Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Texas Longhorns Offense
Dominate with the running game. Texas has the ability, the quarterback, and the receivers to throw with just about anyone, but the machine works better when the offensive line is battering away with the ground attack.
The more the leaky Texas defense is off the field, the better.
It wasn’t all about the ground attack last year, but it was a massive factor. The Longhorns ran for fewer than 150 yards four times – they lost all four games.
The offense averaged 177 rushing yards per game last year – just keep doing that.
Under Tom Herman, Texas is 18-2 when running for 160 yards or more, is 15-1 when running for 170 yards or more, and over the last three seasons it’s 9-0 when running for 200 yards or more.
Biggest Key To The Texas Longhorns Defense
Stop teams from bombing away so easily. It’s one thing to get hit by Joe Burrow and the epic 2019 LSU team for 471 yards and four scores, but Carter Stanley of Kansas threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns.
West Virginia threw for over 275 yards just three times last season, and it hit Texas for 367 and three scores.
On the year, Texas gave up 250 yards or more nine times and over 300 yards or more six times. Worse yet, the 7.9 yards per pass allowed were the most since 2012.
To keep reiterating this, it’s the Big 12, and giving up big passing yards is the cost of doing business, but this is supposed to be one of those teams in the league with a defense.
It all ties in together – lots of passing yards, not enough third down stops, more stress on an offense and a team that usually lost when it couldn’t score 40 points. And that means …
Key Texas Longhorns Player To A Successful Season
CB Jalen Green, Jr.
Or junior D’Shawn Jamison, or sophomore Kenyatta Watson, or any of the corner options who might be able to do something, anything, to slow down a passing attack.
Texas finished 127th in the nation in pass defense, allowing 3,803 yards and 28 touchdowns. The interceptions weren’t there over the second half of the year, picking off just two passes in the final seven games.
The 6-1, 195-pound Green was banged up for part of last year, but he still made 30 tackles with five broken up passes. He was a big recruit who has been okay. The woeful pass D needs him to be fantastic.
Key Game To The Texas Longhorns Season
at Oklahoma State, Nov. 28
Of course the Oklahoma game on October 10th is the one everyone wants, but watch out – the Oklahoma State game in the regular season finale might be even more dangerous.
The Oklahoma game is in Dallas – as always. The Oklahoma State game is on the road.
The Longhorns won 36-30 last season in Austin, but before that they dropped four straight in the series with the last win in 2014. This is a loaded Cowboy team, and this could be the game that decides who goes to the Big 12 Championship.
– Texas Longhorns Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Texas Fun Stats
– Sacks: Opponents 36 for 199 yards – Texas 27 for 147 yards
– Penalties: Texas 95 for 890 yards – Opponents 64 for 554 yards
– Fumbles: Opponents 13 (lost 7) – Texas 9 (lost 4)
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Longhorns Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Longhorns Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
CFN in 60 Video: Texas Longhorns Preview
Just when it seems like Texas is having a rough run, and the overrated chants come out, and everyone starts hammering on it …
It wipes the floor in the Alamo Bowl against a Utah team that might have been a Pac-12 Championship win away from going to the College Football Playoff.
The talent is there, the coaching is terrific, and overall, it’s a program that continues to be bound by nothing.
It’s beyond ridiculous that the last Big 12 championship win was in 2009 and the program has only won two since John Mackovic’s team shocked the world in 1996.
It seems like in Year Four under Tom Herman that this will all go one of two ways. Either it’ll be yet another underwhelming campaign with some new reason why all the talent in place didn’t come together on a consistent basis, or this is when it all starts to really, really rock.
No, this won’t be a 2019 LSU situation, but there’s no excuse to not win a Big 12 title again.
Set The Texas Longhorns Regular Season Win Total At … 9.5
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 9
Oklahoma State is going to be terrific, and that’s on the road. Oklahoma is still going to be Oklahoma, and LSU is a road game. Those are the three acceptable losses or games to worry about. At some point, Texas has to go TEXAS and beat all the programs that don’t have anywhere near the same advantages.
Kansas State is a road game. It’s going to be a stronger team this year, but … Texas, beat Kansas State.
Texas Tech is always dangerous in its own way, and TCU, Iowa State, Baylor and West Virginia can all rise up and rock on the right day, but … Texas, beat Texas Tech, TCU, Iowa State, Baylor, and West Virginia.
The Longhorns will lose one they shouldn’t, will split the LSU and Oklahoma games – beating the Sooners the more likely of the two – and it’ll come down to the date in Stillwater against Oklahoma State to get to ten wins in the regular season since the 2009 team went off to play for the national title.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Schedule Analysis
