LONGHORN GAME DAY
4-page preview: Why Texas needs to get off on the right foot
American-Statesman columnists Kirk Bohls and Cedric Golden address 10 hot-button topics about Texas, the Big 12 and national college football:
1. Who’ll be the last team standing as national champion?
Bohls: I’m sticking with my No. 1 team on my Associated Press preseason ballot, Clemson, to rock and roll over Michigan State. The experienced Spartans with 18 starters aren’t getting enough national love and get both Michigan and Ohio State at home and skip playing Wisconsin. But they won’t be able to handle the best defense in the land in the CFP title game. Consolation prizes go to Alabama and Washington, both semifinalists. But the Huskies sure better beat Auburn on Saturday to enhance their chances. I’ve omitted Georgia and its favorable schedule because I think the committee really doesn’t want to invite two teams from the same conference two years in a row.
Golden: Clemson. The Tigers are about to prevent Alabama from starting another dynastic
title run. You win championships by being good up front, and the Tigers have some real studs on both lines. Kelly Bryant will be good enough at quarterback to shepherd the Tigers to their second title in three seasons.
2. Pick a true dark horse entry for the CFP.
Bohls: Give me Stanford, which is ranked 13th. Any team with versatile tailback Bryce Love leading the way has a chance for greatness, but the Cardinal has major rebuilding to do on the defensive side of the ball.
Golden: Jim Harbaugh has to make a run at this thing sooner rather than later, right? Michigan has its quarterback in Shea Patterson and a little bit of turmoil in Columbus (which makes for smiles in Ann Arbor). The schedule will be tough, with five teams on the sched
ule ranked in the AP’s Top 12, but it’s time for the khakis to make some real national noise.
3. How big is this Maryland game for Texas long-term?
Bohls: It’s must-win big. Tom Herman can ill afford a second straight season-opening loss to a second-tier Big Ten team that won’t even have its real head coach on the sideline. I’m not saying a
loss would be disastrous — Texas overcame the loss last year to make and win a bowl game — but it would quickly dilute any momentum for the program. Call it Longhorns, 38-30. Golden: It’s hu-freaking-mongous. To drop a second straight opener to the Turtles would be beyond disastrous. Herman seemed a little confident before the 2017 game, but that won’t happen this time. The Horns will take care of business. Texas wins 38-27.
4. Will Texas A&M top its usual eight-win form?
Bohls: Nope. Even with the Aggies’ season-opening sleepwalk Thursday night, the schedule is just too difficult to make a huge splash in Jimbo Fisher’s inaugural year. Looks like a 7-5 season to me.
Golden: Not this year. That schedule is unrelenting. Fisher is the right man for this job, but don’t expect a huge leap forward in year one. The Aggies will go a respectable 7-5, which may not be enough for that titlestarved fan base. Patience, Aggies. Patience.
5. Name your Heisman winner — and a Heisman sleeper.
Bohls: Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin’s stud running back who nearly cracked 2,000 yards last year as a freshman, will win it. A slight dark horse winner would be Houston’s Ed Oliver, the best defensive lineman — and maybe player — in the country.
Golden: Stanford running back Bryce Love surprised many by coming back for another season,
and he’ll make it pay off by becoming the first Car-
dinal player to win the Heisman since quarterback Jim Plunkett did it 48 years ago. Oliver will be the second coming of Ndamukong Suh but will finish third.
6. Is there an upset out there this week?
Bohls: I’ll take a flier on Troy upsetting No. 22 Boise State, assuming Troy’s not looking ahead to its date with Nebraska later this season.
Golden: Florida State had better watch out at Virginia Tech. New coach Willie Taggart is taking over a Seminoles program with huge expectations. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech
hasn’t been getting that notice of programs like
Clemson, Miami and Florida State in the ACC. The Hokies win by a late field goal.
7. Which coach gets fired first this season?
Bohls: LSU’s Ed Orgeron, who’s a great fit in Baton Rouge with his gravelly voice and down-home
style but won’t be able to galvanize the fan base with a pedestrian offense.
Golden: Maryland has yet to pull the trigger on suspended coach D.J. Durkin, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the program parted ways with him in the next two or three weeks.
8. What Top 25-ranked team will really flop this year?
Bohls: It’s a bit risky, but No. 8 Miami might not make good on its lofty expectations. True, the
Hurricanes raced to a 10-0 start and were ranked as
high as No. 2 after blowing out Notre Dame, but
there was a three-game skid to end the year and it’s unlikely that Miami can repeat its high turnover-producing rate on defense. Golden: LSU. The Tigers will have their moments but won’t finish the season ranked. Orgeron is popular in some circles in Cajun Country
but just won’t be able to get enough offense going in the rough-and-tumble SEC. LSU won’t get it done scoring 25 points a game in that conference.
9. Besides Todd Orlando, who’s a hot name for a head coaching vacancy?
Bohls: Boise State’s Bryan Harsin is on the rise and deserves watching, but I’ll take Purdue’s rising star Jeff Brohm, who took the Big Ten’s worst team a year ago and carved out a 7-6 winner. He does know quarter
backs. He’s the Kliff Kingsbury of the Big Ten, but probably better.
Golden: LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda could have been a head coach by now, but he’s being smartly selective in his approach. He has guided defenses ranked 15th or higher nationally for six straight seasons. That’s great production.
10. Will Urban Meyer coach the Buckeyes beyond this season?
Bohls: Yes. He’ll be too dirty for an NFL team to grab. But I don’t see the Ohio State scandal that has engulfed that school going away any time soon. If you think so, just check out Zach Smith’s tweets. Golden: No. I don’t see
it happening. After he threw his athletic director under the bus at the beginning of the scandal, he looked as if he’d been hit by a truck in last week’s news conference. Meyer doesn’t do stress very well. He’ll coach again, but not in Columbus.