AdvoCare Texas Bowl: What a Victory Would Mean for the Texas Longhorns
As the Texas Longhorns face the Arkansas Razorbacks in Monday night’s AdvoCare v100 Texas Bowl, there is a lot on the line for both teams. While not a huge game in the overall college bowl picture, it’s a very critical one between two 6-6 teams both attempting to rebuild their programs. For Texas, a win tonight would be a springboard in helping first-year head coach Charlie Strong get the Longhorn program turned around.
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For starters, anytime you have a first-year coach that is trying to rebuild a program from the ground up, it’s very crucial to grab momentum as you head into the off-season. After a disastrous end to the regular season, the Longhorns are in dire need of confidence, and a victory would do just that for the program as they look forward to next year. If Strong can go 7-6 in his first season, it would give the Longhorns some assurance that they’ve chosen the right man to lead the Longhorns into the future. Fair or not, a loss would leave doubts in the minds of the Longhorn faithful that Strong is capable of turning the program back around. In that case, it would be a very long eight months for all associated with this Texas football program.
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Secondly, a win would help the Longhorns grab even more recruiting momentum as they head into the final month before signing day. With the recent commitments of Malik Jefferson and Deandre McNeal, Strong and his staff stole some recruiting fire away from the Texas A&M Aggies and other in-state programs such as the Baylor Bears and the TCU Horned Frogs. With the Horns still in the game for several top recruits, a victory over the Razorbacks would continue that recruiting momentum, proving to un-commited recruits that Texas is on its way back. It’s important, as the most storied program in Texas, that the Longhorns reclaim the state, especially given the recent success of the Bears and Horned Frogs.
The AdvoCare v100 Texas Bowl will air tonight at 8:00 P.M. on ESPN.
Lastly, tonight’s game may not answer the questions that Longhorns will have regarding the starting quarterback next season, but a good showing by Tyrone Swoopes would certainly ease some concerns heading into the spring. Not only that, it would be much easier for Strong and Company to sell this offense to recruits if they can prove that Swoopes can get the job done. If he can bounce back from a terrible performance against the Horned Frogs and lead the Horns to victory, he could carry some confidence with him heading into the off-season, when he will battle it out with red-shirt quarterback Jerrod Heard. With the Horns being dangerously thin at quarterback heading into next year (Zach Gentry will arrive on campus in the summer), they need more than one guy who can get the job done.
This Texas team has a lot riding on tonight’s game. Though most fans would overreact like it is, a loss certainly wouldn’t be a dagger in the program considering it’s Strong’s first season; however, a victory could definitely help speed up the rebuilding process.