4 reasons Texas football can pull off the shocking upset of Alabama

Ja’Tavion Sanders can be a problem for the Alabama defense

Parts of this Alabama defense are littered with NFL-caliber talent. Everyone knows about what the Crimson Tide and defensive coordinator Pete Golding bring with the star duo in the front seven in sophomore Dallas Turner and junior Will Anderson Jr. The duo of Turner and Anderson will make life quite difficult in this game for the Texas offensive line and redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers.

One way Sark and the Longhorns can counter the insane effectiveness of this Alabama pass rush and ability to set the edge defending the run is with the intermediate and short passing game. This is where Texas must get the breakout sophomore tight end and former five-star recruit Ja’Tavion Sanders involved to find some gaps in this Alabama defense.

We’ll talk about the importance of Texas executing on the passing game between five and 15 yards from the line of scrimmage in this list.

Sanders brings another dimension of versatility and potency to this Texas offense. He’s a capable blocker whether he’s lined up as a flex tight end or tethered to the offensive line. Meanwhile, Sanders is clearly a big-time weapon for Sark and the Longhorns to scheme up in the passing game.

In the win over ULM, Sanders was the best receiver for the Longhorns going for 85 yards and one receiving touchdown. Alabama will obviously be a much more difficult matchup for Sanders than ULM.

But it’s hard to find any clear answers for Alabama to matchup with Sanders that won’t mean they have to devote at least one extra resource to limit what he can do in the receiving game. ULM got burned whether they matched up a safety or a linebacker on Sanders.

I do believe that most of the Alabama safeties are capable of covering Sanders. But most of the linebackers will probably be overmatched if they’re covering Sanders in this game.

There is also the potential for Sark to beat the Alabama defense over the top with star sophomore wide receiver Xavier Worthy if they start devoting a safety resource to covering Sanders in the passing game.

Sanders is definitely going to be an issue for pretty much every defense that Texas faces in 2022. Alabama is likely no exception to that. Whether they focus additional resources to shut him down or just try to mitigate his potential to do damage on the outside and pick up yards after the catch, Sanders could still present a headache for the Alabama defensive staff either way.