Texas Football: 5 takeaways from the 2018 regular season

Fans of the Texas football program have to be pleased with the results from this season so far, but a win in the Sugar Bowl would complete a huge year.

The end of the regular season for the Texas football program is almost a month behind us at this point. As of Dec. 27, Texas football had nearly a full month pass since its last game. The last game for Texas football was played against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 Championship Game on Dec. 1. That didn’t go the way Texas football was hoping for. That doesn’t takeaway from how much success this team found this fall.

Moreover, the marker for success for the Texas football program this year was improving the win total from the previous four years. Between the 2014 and 2017 campaigns, Texas football never won more than seven games in a single season. This 2018 team was able to blow that out of the water with a shot at reaching double-digit wins for the first time since 2009 if it defeats the Georgia Bulldogs in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Years Day.

Texas football wrapped up the regular season, and the Big 12 Championship Game, with a record of 9-4 (7-3 Big 12). The in-conference losses came at the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners, West Virginia Mountaineers, and Oklahoma State Cowboys. An interesting season of Big 12 play was also marked by marquee victories over Oklahoma (in the first meeting), the Iowa State Cyclones, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and Kansas State Wildcats.

The non-conference slate also delivered mostly positive results, excluding the season opening loss to the Maryland Terrapins. Texas did turn things around quickly with wins over the USC Trojans and Tulsa Golden Hurricane. It sparked the six-game winning streak for the Horns through the beginning of Big 12 play.

Here’s a look at the five biggest takeaways for the Texas Longhorns from the 2018 regular season, and heading into the Sugar Bowl against the Georgia Bulldogs on Jan. 1.