Texas Football: 3 reasons why the Longhorns could put 70 on Rice

Steve Sarkisian will want to keep his foot on the gas before the Alabama game

One of the biggest reasons why the Longhorns might not score over 50 points in the season opener against Rice this weekend is Sark easing up in the second half by putting in the backups. If Sark slows the offense down and throws the younger players in the game much earlier than usual, Texas might not score as much as they would with their best players on the field.

Here’s the problem with that theory: I think Texas’ backups are still much better and more capable than Rice’s starters.

This year’s Texas team has more depth and talent across the board than any Longhorns’ squad we’ve seen potentially in the last decade. And this is definitely Sark’s best team in his three years at Texas.

I am confident that Texas’ offense can score at will against a team like Rice with redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy or true freshman Arch Manning at quarterback. Texas’ defense also has plenty of backups eager to prove themselves and would start at most other Big 12 schools this season.

Given that Sark and the Longhorns are motivated to run up the score on a team like Rice to open the season, this game could get ugly this weekend. Sark should want to keep his foot on the gas ahead of the critical Week 2 non-conference showdown against Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Texas must be clicking on all cylinders heading into that matchup against Alabama.