Texas Football: 247 tabs Horns as a team on upset alert in Week 1

There’s no doubting that new head coach Steve Sarkisian and No. 21 ranked Texas football have a difficult matchup ahead against the No. 23 ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and head coach Billy Napier on the afternoon of Sep. 4. But this is a matchup Texas should be able to win without a doubt.

Nonetheless, there are those that are definitely going to put Sark and the Longhorns on upset alert in Week 1 against the Ragin’ Cajuns. A piece from 247Sports on Sep. 3 tabbed the Longhorns as one of the roughly five teams on upset alert to watch this weekend.

Some of the other picks here included the UCLA Bruins putting LSU Tigers on upset alert and the Georgia Bulldogs putting the Clemson Tigers on upset alert. Granted, those two games have such a narrow spread that it’s hard to not say that LSU and Clemson are on upset alert this weekend.

247Sports has Steve Sarkisian and Texas football on upset alert in Week 1

Here’s some of what this 247Sports had to say about why Texas is on upset alert against Louisiana on Sep. 4.

"It’s also Steve Sarkisian’s opener in Austin, and while things appear to be trending in a positive direction, all kinds of crazy things can happen when a team is playing in its first game under a new coach, with a new quarterback and under new systems on both sides of the ball. If Texas does fare well and doesn’t just win, but lands a double-digit victory, that would be an awfully positive indicator for what the Longhorns could do this season."

Texas is a nine-point favorite in the betting line just ahead of kickoff on Sep. 4. And the ESPN matchup predictor (based on the Football Power Index) still gives the Longhorns just over an 87 percent chance to beat Louisiana.

Sark and the Longhorns need to get off on the right foot this weekend before another difficult portion of the non-conference schedule arrives next week. Texas is set to travel to Fayetteville to take on the longtime rival Arkansas Razorbacks on the road in a primetime slot on Sep. 11.

There’s a lot of pressure on the likes of Sark and sophomore starting quarterback Hudson Card right out of the gates. The good news here is that there are leaders on other side of the ball such as senior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and sophomore star running back Bijan Robinson to help shoulder the load at the get go.

Texas and Louisiana are set to kickoff at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Sep. 4 at 3:30 p.m. CT. This game will be televisted in front of a national audience on Fox this afternoon.