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Is Texas back?
It’s the age old question that has seemingly been asked of the Longhorns for a decade.
Texas was seemingly back when it won the Sugar Bowl under coach Tom Herman in 2018 only for Herman to get fired two years later.
The Longhorns were back for all of two quarters against Alabama last year before quarterback Quinn Ewers got injured and they slumped to an 8-5 record.
But this year, Texas appears to be back back.
The Horns are 5-0 on the season with a win over the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. They’re ranked third in the AP Top 25 headed into this week’s Red River Shootout game against rival Oklahoma, which is also 5-0 but ranked just 12th.
Despite all that, not everybody is a Texas believer quite yet.
Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger spoke with several coaches and scouts ahead of Saturday’s showdown. And one in particular wasn’t shy about throwing shading toward the Longhorns.
“I’m so tired of when Texas wins a big f****** football game and people say they’re back,” one coach told Dellenger. “Texas hasn’t done anything since Mack Brown. Are they back? I’m not going to say that yet, but they are damn good.”
The Sooners could well present Texas’ biggest test of the regular season. And that’s including Alabama.
After a shocking 6-7 season a year ago under first-year coach Brent Venables, Oklahoma looks back to its old self this time around.
“This year, Brent is familiar with calling it and he’s doing it himself. It makes sense,” an SEC staff member said of the turnaround. “The familiarity on both sides of it has allowed them to be more controlled chaos versus chaos.”
So, are the Longhorns back?
Saturday’s showdown could be the clearest answer yet. And if Texas can get by the Sooners, it’s hard to see anyone else in the Big 12 stopping it.