While the Texas Longhorns are the No. 1 team in the country, they take any opponent lightly, especially now that SEC play is about to kick off with their first conference matchup of the season against the No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers.
As the Horns look to continue their undefeated start to the season, one of the biggest hurdles will be the home-field advantage the Vols can boast, but Tennessee has a plethora of strengths no matter where it plays, and Texas has to be ready to handle all of them.
So, while Texas will already be battling the crowd noise, here are the three biggest things that head coach Steve Sarkisian and the rest of the staff have to prepare for:
3. Pass rushing prowess
Just three games into the season, the Vols have already earned 13 sacks, and the Texas offensive line is going to have to face an almost surprising amount of pressure on Saturday while trying to keep their backfield safe.
While the O-Line has to perform at its best, that also means that quarterback Arch Manning has to be ready to either 1. get rid of the ball or 2. use his legs wisely.
Last week, despite the 24-point win over UTSA, Sarkisian complained that Manning "fell in love with his legs" a bit too much, but that might be exactly what Texas's QB1 needs to do when his coach doesn't call a designed run play.
2. Explosive 1-2 punch on the ground
Similar to the Longhorns, the Volunteers can boast a dual-threat running back room, with DeSean Bishop and Daune Morris carrying the rock on the offensive side of the ball.
The two running backs have already amassed 520 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground so far this season. Bishop has displayed an incredible level of decisiveness, while Morris's ability to burst out of the backfield has been nearly impossible for opponents to stop.
That means the defensive line, linebackers (ahem, Rasheem Biles), and safeties (ahem, Jelani McDonald) will have to be more ready than ever to adjust on the fly to pick up the one-two punch that Tennessee has in its backfield.
1. Pulling out a deep ball
Because the run offense has been so dynamic for the Vols, it has opened up a dual-threat option for head coach Josh Heupel to tap true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon whenever he sees fit.
Brandon, who has nearly 150 rushing yards of his own, can seemingly throw the ball as deep down the field as he feels like it, earning 552 passing yards so far this season, including a jaw-dropping 57-yard connection in the first game of the year.
While this puts pressure on the defensive line to try to get to Brandon, it also means that Texas's defensive secondary is going to have to play as well as possible to eliminate his downfield targets. In other words, defensive backs like Graceson Littleton need to get ready.
No. 1 Texas and No. 14 Tennessee are scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, Sept. 26, and as soon as that game begins, we will see if Sarkisian prepared his team for everything the Volunteers can put on display.
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