Texas Football: 3 x-factors for the Longhorns vs. Louisiana

We are now just three days away from the start of the 2021 regular season for new head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program. Texas is set to open up the regular season this weekend against the No. 23 ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

More specifically, the No. 21 ranked Longhorns are set to take on Louisiana on Sep. 4 at home, with kickoff time set for 3:30 p.m. CT, televised on FOX.

This is a big game for Texas, and the betting line was narrowed down to around eight-points in the Longhorns’ favor as this week moved along. But the ESPN matchup predictor (based off the Football Power Index) gives the Longhorns better than an 87 percent chance to beat Louisiana this weekend.

Texas football will have some critical matchups in Week 1 vs. Louisiana

The FPI is giving Texas pretty big favor over Louisiana in this season opener. It likely won’t be that easy for Texas this weekend.

Texas will be coming into this game with a new starting quarterback and essentially a completely new coaching staff. This meeting with the Ragin’ Cajuns will put Sark and the Longhorns to the test right away. Louisiana is only ranked two spots lower than Texas in the preseason AP Poll, and has more than 20 returning starters on both sides of the ball.

It’s hard to find some type of logic that says that it will be an easy win for Sark and his staff right off the bat.

Nonetheless, here’s a look into three Longhorns players that will be x-factors to getting a win over Louisiana on Sep. 4.