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Texas football schedule breakdown: Six homes games, two trips out of state highlight slate

thomas jones, austin american-statesman
·4 min read
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Head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football team look primed to start their final season in the Big 12. The Longhorns' schedule features six games at Royal-Memorial Stadium and just two contests outside the state. The season opener will be Saturday against Rice.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football team look primed to start their final season in the Big 12. The Longhorns' schedule features six games at Royal-Memorial Stadium and just two contests outside the state. The season opener will be Saturday against Rice.

Texas enters its final season in the Big 12 with high expectations and a favorable schedule.

The Longhorns have an early opportunity to make a national impact at Alabama and will leave the state just one other time, when they visit Iowa State. Trips to Baylor and TCU seem tricky, but Texas will welcome possible Big 12 contenders Kansas, Kansas State and Texas Tech to Austin. Oh, and the annual blood feud against Oklahoma remains where it belongs — at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas during the state fair in early October.

Rice: Hello, again

Saturday, 2:30 p.m., Royal-Memorial Stadium (Fox)

The season kicks off against a familiar foe, Texas' former Southwest Conference rival, and any problems against an Owls team that went 5-8 a year ago would raise immediate red, er, crimson flags for the next week’s trip to Tuscaloosa.

Alabama: Another shot for Texas

Sept. 9, 6 p.m., Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa (ESPN)

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers seemed on the verge of a massive game against an Alabama team that finished 11-2 before he was knocked out with an injury last year in Austin. He appears to have an improved array of weapons on the outside, but will that be enough before a rabid Roll Tide crowd?

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, left, and Alabama's Nick Saban chat before last year's game at Royal-Memorial Stadium, a 20-19 Crimson Tide victory that came on a field goal at the end. The two teams will meet again this year, but in Tuscaloosa.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, left, and Alabama's Nick Saban chat before last year's game at Royal-Memorial Stadium, a 20-19 Crimson Tide victory that came on a field goal at the end. The two teams will meet again this year, but in Tuscaloosa.

Wyoming: A final nonconference tuneup

Sept. 16, 7 p.m., Royal-Memorial Stadium (LHN)

The Longhorns will probably return home from their SEC foray at Alabama with an array of bumps and bruises, but a gritty Wyoming team that went 7-6 last season might not prove that pleasant a salve.

More: Bohls, Golden: At least the Texas Longhorns can't blame their schedule this season

Baylor: The road begins in Waco

Sept. 23, McLane Stadium in Waco

Texas' Big 12 run begins on the banks of the Brazos River, where a Baylor team that went 6-7 and endured a four-game losing streak to end 2022 hopes to rediscover its 2021 magic that resulted in a 12-win season and the conference championship.

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels is expected to be one of the Big 12's most dynamic offensive players this season. The Jayhawks will visit Royal-Memorial Stadium on Sept. 30.
Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels is expected to be one of the Big 12's most dynamic offensive players this season. The Jayhawks will visit Royal-Memorial Stadium on Sept. 30.

Kansas: A defensive test

Sept. 30, Royal-Memorial Stadium

Whatever questions arose during the first month of the season could be answered against the Jayhawks, who dropped seven of their last eight games last year in a 6-7 season but welcome back an explosive offense.

More: 'I wasn't where I wanted to be last year': Texas QB Quinn Ewers looks ahead to 2023 season

Oklahoma: Sooners' road trauma

Oct. 7, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas

Regardless of any Sooners bravado in the Cotton Bowl cauldron, there has to be some psychological trauma still lingering from last year’s 49-0 loss to Texas and a 6-7 record in 2022.

Texas defenders bring down Oklahoma tight end Brayden Willis during last year's game at the Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns blasted the Sooners 49-0.
Texas defenders bring down Oklahoma tight end Brayden Willis during last year's game at the Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns blasted the Sooners 49-0.

Houston: Holgorsen knows the Horns

Oct. 21, TDECU Stadium in Houston

After an 8-5 season, the Cougars join the Big 12. They have won 20 games over the past two years under head coach Dana Holgorsen, who went 4-3 against Texas during his tenure at West Virginia.

BYU: Cougars, Longhorns have a history

Oct. 28, Royal-Memorial Stadium

Texas fans usually flinch when recalling BYU quarterback Taysom Hill bulling through the Longhorns a decade ago, and these Cougars, who went 8-5 last year before joining the Big 12, will try to bring up bad memories while pounding the ball.

More: Best of the Big 12: Breaking down coaches, intangibles as we rank all 14 conference teams

Kansas State: Holding the crown that Texas wants

Nov. 4, Royal-Memorial Stadium

The defending Big 12 champions, who went 10-4 in 2022, will test Texas in the trenches on both sides of the ball, but does a Wildcats offense that has lost Deuce Vaughn to the Dallas Cowboys have enough pop?

TCU: How big a dropoff will there be?

Nov. 11, Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth

Sure, the Frogs lose lots of pivotal pieces from last season’s 13-2 team that made a run to the national title game, but head coach Sonny Dykes will have had plenty of time to meld something dangerous by mid-November.

Iowa State: Cyclones are reeling

Nov. 18, Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa

The bloom seems to have come off Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell and the Cyclones, who scored a conference-low 242 points in Big 12 play last season while finishing with a 4-8 record and then endured an offseason gambling scandal.

Texas Tech: So long, Big 12

Nov. 24, 6:30 p.m., Royal-Memorial Stadium (ABC)

This will be the Longhorns' final Big 12 regular-season game. Tech looks like a dark horse conference title contender behind the bravado of second-year coach Joey McGuire and a talented roster that seemed to get better as its 8-5 2022 season wore on, but a cold dish of Longhorns revenge seems appropriate for the day after Thanksgiving.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: What the Texas football schedule looks like in its final Big 12 season