A good chance to move more firmly into the AP Top 25 to round out this season exists for No. 20 ranked Texas football against Colorado in the Alamo Bowl.
Entering a key Alamo Bowl showdown for fourth-year head coach Tom Herman and No. 20 ranked Texas football, against the upstart Colorado Buffaloes out of the PAC-12, this team could really use a seventh win to round out the season. There is a lot of change going on right now for Texas, especially amid all of the action surrounding the NCAA Transfer Portal.
In the last few weeks alone, Herman and the Longhorns lost the likes of freshman quarterback Ja’Quinden Jackson to the Utah Utes and freshman safety Xavion Alford to the USC Trojans. There were other significant losses to the transfer portal for the Longhorns this year, but those were the most notable from earlier this month.
Texas also saw a number of key players opt out in the final weeks of the regular season, and since its conclusion, that will impact their depth in the Alamo Bowl next week. The likes of junior safety Caden Sterns, redshirt junior offensive tackle Sam Cosmi, senior defensive end Ta’Quon Graham, junior wide receiver Brennan Eagles, etc. all won’t be participating in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29.
Herman and his staff will have to find a way to overcome those losses to get an Alamo Bowl win over head coach Karl Dorrell and the Buffs.
Texas kicks off against the Buffs in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Dec. 29 at 8 p.m. CT. The Longhorns are currently 9.5 point favorites, as of the early afternoon of Dec. 27. And the ESPN matchup predictor (powered by the Football Power Index) gives the Longhorns a 79.9 percent chance to get the win.
Since the Longhorns are a pretty heavy favorite, by all considerations, over the Buffs, this should be a good opportunity for Herman to stay undefeated in his postseason career as the Texas head coach. Here’s a look into three bold predictions as the Longhorns take on Colorado in the Alamo Bowl.
3) Bold predictions for Texas football in the Alamo Bowl
Jalen Green and D’shawn Jamison each pick off Sam Noyer once
A point of opportunity for first-year defensive coordinator/safeties coach Chris Ash in the Alamo Bowl will be finding spots to create turnovers from this Colorado passing game. The 6-foot-4 and 220 pound dual-threat signal caller Sam Noyer was good for the most part for the Buffs during the regular season, but he might not even play in the Alamo Bowl.
Noyer has a shoulder injury that he’s dealing with, and his status is still up in the air for the Buffs. If he does go, then Colorado could be prone to tossing at least a pick or two for this opportune Texas defense. In five games played this fall, Noyer tossed five picks along with six touchdowns. So the chances likely could be there for the Longhorns to get at least one pick.
If Noyer isn’t able to go for the Buffs, then they might be forced to turn to freshman backup quarterback Brendon Lewis, who doesn’t have any passing attempts in his career thus far.
Two Longhorns defensive backs that could be big benefactors of any haywire passes from Noyer could be junior cornerback D’Shawn Jamison and junior cornerback/safety convert Jalen Green. The former of those two DB’s was huge for the Longhorns down the stretch last season, catching three picks. But Jamison is still without any interceptions this season.
Meanwhile, Green is cross training at safety for the Longhorns in practice leading up to the Alamo Bowl. Green managed to nab his first career interception this fall, and he does have seven career pass breakups. A solid end to this season for both Jamison and Green could be in the role as difference makers for this Texas secondary.
2) Bold predictions for Texas football in the Alamo Bowl
Bijan Robinson and Jarek Broussard combine for 350 rushing yards
At least late in the regular season, both Texas and Colorado powered their offenses by way of the ground game. The Longhorns absolutely went off in their de facto regular season finale, in which they dismantled the Kansas State Wildcats and head coach Chris Klieman by the final score of 69-31 on the road back on Dec. 5.
In that win over Kansas State, we saw the potency of the duo out of the backfield of true freshman running back Bijan Robinson and sophomore Roschon Johnson for the Longhorns. And while the latter of those two running backs had an overall solid sophomore campaign on the Forty Acres, Robinson is the one that we all want to see in the Alamo Bowl.
So far this season, Robinson tallied up 520 rushing yards on 76 carries (6.8 yards per carry), three rushing touchdowns, 159 receiving yards on 13 catches (12.2 yards per catch), and no receiving touchdowns. He was the mainstay for this Texas running back room late in the season and could have a huge day come Dec. 29.
Meanwhile, Colorado has a stud running back of their own this season in the breakthrough in the 5-foot-9 and 185 pound sophomore star Jarek Broussard. As one of the best rushers in the PAC-12 this fall, Broussard registered 813 rushing yards on 129 carries (6.3 yards per carry), three rushing touchdowns, and 52 receiving yards on seven catches (7.4 yards per catch), with no receiving touchdowns.
It’s not out of the question that the Longhorns and Buffs each get at least 150-200 rushing yards out of their top running backs in the Alamo Bowl.
1) Bold predictions for Texas football in the Alamo Bowl
Sam Ehlinger totals four touchdowns, and keeps a clean turnover sheet
The decision of star senior Texas signal caller Sam Ehlinger of whether to enter the 2021 NFL Draft or return to the Forty Acres for a fifth year will be crucial for Herman and this team next offseason. Ehlinger led this Longhorns team for the better part of the last four years, although he split a lot of the snaps with former Texas quarterback Shane Buechele during his true freshman campaign in 2017.
In nine games played during the regular season, Ehlinger registered a 60.1 completion percentage, 2,406 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns, five interceptions, 8.8 adjusted yards per passing attempt, and a 149.9 passer efficiency rating. To add to that mark, he rushed for 382 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground this fall.
Ehlinger holds a number of passing and rushing records for the Longhorns given the volume of games for which he’s played in during the last four seasons. More could be broken in this Alamo Bowl against Colorado.
Moreover, Ehlinger really stood out in Texas’ Alamo Bowl win last year over Utah, by the dominant final score of 38-10. He tends to do exactly what’s needed for Texas in the postseason, as he’s 2-0 in two tries in bowl games.
Colorado’s pass defense was pretty good this fall, allowing just over 200 yards through the air per game and around 1.5 passing touchdowns. They also forced more turnovers per game during the regular season than they allowed passing touchdowns. This will be a challenge for Ehlinger, but one that he should be up to the task for.