5 bold predictions for Texas football vs. Alabama

Texas actually keeps the game close, but still falls short to Alabama

The question that all Texas fans will be looking to answer this weekend will be whether the Longhorns can actually hang with the Crimson Tide. Texas surely has the talent to keep pace with the Crimson Tide, but doing so on the field will be much easier said than done.

But the fact of the matter is that Texas will need a few factors to come together, while minimizing avoidable mistakes at all costs, to keep things close with Alabama.

First and foremost, Texas will need a big game out of Ewers. In fact, we might need to see a career day out of Ewers for the Longhorns to have a chance to keep this game close until the final whistle. Most of the areas that Texas can exploit in this Alabama defense will come by way of the passing game. That will place the onus on Ewers to be able to get the ball to his most dangerous skill position weapons in the intermediate and short passing game.

And if the opportunities do come about where Texas has someone such as Worthy, senior wideout Tarique Milton, redshirt junior Jordan Whittington, etc. open deep, Ewers needs to be ready to deliver a good deep ball.

Another important factor for the Longhorns this weekend will be slowing down this Alabama passing game. Texas can match up with most of the Alabama wideouts, especially if there is effective safety help over the top. The Texas secondary will have to be at their best to limit the potency of this Alabama passing game by making Young do it all for the Tide.

Last but not least, Texas will need to make some plays on special teams to steal some points away from the Crimson Tide. We saw Texas come through with some big plays on special teams, like the punt block that was returned for a touchdown against ULM, but there were also some bad plays too. The dropped punt by Isaac Pearson and the bobbled snap on a field goal attempt can’t happen if Texas wants to keep things competitive with Alabama this weekend.