Texas Football: 5 Biggest Games for Longhorns in 2016
By Tyler Brett
Texas football is at a crossroad. This season will determine if they return to the top of the Big 12 or slide back into another losing season. Which way they go will come down to a handful of games this fall.
The Longhorns have a tough 2016 schedule that is loaded with tough games from top to bottom. Three of their first five games will be against teams ranked in Sports Illustrated’s Preseason College Football Top 25, including their season opener against No. 12 Notre Dame.
Charlie Strong has to start winning to prove that he has this program headed in the right direction. After two years of massive turnover and a disappointing 11-14 record, this is the year that Strong needs to show his teams can win big games with all the talent he has accumulated .
This team showed signs of progress late last season, winning four of their last seven games. They posted impressive wins over ranked opponents like then-No. 10 Oklahoma and then-No. 12 Baylor, flashing their ability to compete at the highest level. That came after a 1-4 start to the season, however, and the Horns ultimately put together a meager 5-7 record.
The time is right for Texas to take the next step as a program. Charlie Strong has his young core of stars ready to lead this team, paired with an elite 2016 recruiting class, and a new offensive coordinator who might breathe life into this stagnant Horns’ attack. Everything is aligning for Strong to finally show what his Texas team can do.
Without further ado, we count down the five biggest games on the Texas schedule this fall. The Longhorns don’t need to win all of these games to prove they’re for real, but it wouldn’t hurt.
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