Southeastern Conference Football Media Days are here. The annual event, which takes place Monday through Thursday, will be different. First, it will be in Dallas as opposed to Birmingham, Alabama. Second, the SEC will welcome new members in Texas and Oklahoma. Texas is scheduled to be available on Wednesday.
The Longhorns should be a national championship contender and reach the newly expanded College Football Playoff for the second straight year. To help us learn more, we caught up with Austin American-Statesman columnist Cedric Golden. We talked to him about what will be a memorable season for the Longhorns.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Awful Announcing: Is this the most highly anticipated football season in Texas history?
Cedric Golden: “I think it is the most anticipated season since 2005. In 2004, Texas beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl, and Vince Young famously said, ‘We’ll be back’ because the Rose Bowl was the site of the championship game the next season, which added to the expectations and the buildup. Southern Cal was going for a three-peat, and the Longhorns did make it back to Pasadena and won the championship. So, it’s probably second to that season in the modern era.”
What are reasonable expectations for the Longhorns?
“Vegas has their over/under win total at 10.5, and that’s pretty lofty. They’ve got Georgia coming to Austin. They still have to play Oklahoma. They have to go to Fayetteville to play Arkansas. They have to go to College Station to play Texas A&M. The second game of the season is against defending national champion Michigan on the road. It’s a tough schedule when you juxtapose it with the fact that they lost 11 guys to the NFL draft. We’ll see if they’re able to plug in those holes and if the guys who were backups last year are ready to be mainline contributors this season.”
What are reasonable expectations for Quinn Ewers?
“He threw 22 touchdowns and six picks last year. It was a breakout season for Quinn. But football is a violent sport, and he’s missed five games in the last two seasons. He hasn’t played a full season since 10th grade. That’s going to be the challenge for him, to stay healthy. He played at 195 pounds last season, which I believe was too light for that position. He’s put on about 10 to 15 pounds of muscle. I think he’s going to be sturdier, and maybe he can avoid injury. I still believe it will be a throw-heavy offense, even though the receiving corps is new. Twenty-five to 30 touchdown passes, if Texas is going to be as good as people think.”
What will be the top reasons Texas wins the national championship?
“Everybody needs a little bit of luck, but staying healthy. Keep Quinn healthy. They have an All-America candidate in Kelvin Banks Jr. at left tackle. Three of the five returning offensive linemen are back. So, keep (Ewers) clean, No. 1, and be much better against the pass, No.2. Also, they lost the best defensive tackle combo in college football in T’Vondre Sweat, the Outland Trophy winner, and Byron Murphy II, who was a first-round pick in the NFL draft. Those are the three main areas if they’re thinking national championship.”
What will be the top reasons Texas doesn’t win it all?
“I think the No.1 reason they won’t win the championship will be their inability to get stops. The SEC is a very physical conference, and when you lose your two best run stoppers up the middle and an All-American linebacker in Jaylan Ford, they’re going to be tested in the run game. One thing I know about SEC teams is when they figure out something that they don’t think you can stop, they’re going to run it over and over again. It’s not one of those leagues where they try to trick you. They’ve got to be as good as last year, which I don’t expect them to be, given what they lost.”
Will the Red River Rivalry look different now that Texas and Oklahoma are in the SEC?
“Not really. It’s going to be the same. It’s going to be played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. It’s still going to be a blood-hatred feud. It’s still going to be one of the best game-day atmospheres in America. Border rights are still going to be in play. I think it takes on an added significance given that it’s going to be their first game as SEC rivals.”
Will Texas A&M vs. Texas surpass that rivalry?
“I was at the SEC celebration on campus a couple of Sundays ago. Paul Finebaum was there. Laura Rutledge was there. Roman Harper was there. Marty Smith was there. Bevo was there. Bevo’s a 2,400-pound steer. Bevo’s huge, and Bevo needs handlers. He’s got like five or six guys handling him. The low guy on the totem pole is on poop duty. He’s got to clean up after Bevo. I’m standing there, and I’m watching him do his work. He shovels the poop into this little pail. The pail is maroon and it has a Texas A&M logo on it. You cannot put a price tag on that kind of hatred. It wasn’t an Oklahoma logo. It was an A&M logo.”
With the transfer portal available, why is Arch Manning still in Texas?
“I wrote about that just this past week. I think, No.1, the Mannings, as a family, are built differently. He’s from a family of millionaires. Arch Manning doesn’t need the money. He doesn’t need to chase NIL deals. I think he knows that it’s probably Quinn Ewers last year. After this season, he’ll retain three years of eligibility.
“He only played two games last year and threw five passes. I expect he might play more this year. He’s the backup now. Eli Manning redshirted. Peyton Manning waited his turn. Those guys know what it’s like to play the patience game. It’s where he wants to be. To me, it’s refreshing in this era of instant gratification.”
What is Steve Sarkisian like?
“He’s a cool customer. He’s a passionate coach. He’s driven. The thing I like about Sarkisian is he doesn’t run away from expectations. He likes it when Texas is in the conversation because he told me it’s a hell of a lot better than 5-7 and losing to Kansas.
“He reveres the mentors who taught him how to coach. Pete Carroll and Nick Saban, he served time under both of those guys. He believes in culture, a family atmosphere, accountability, trust, and openness. His is an interesting story. He lost a plumb gig in USC because of a drinking problem. He’s open with that. He’s using that story to try and help others. He’s been given a great second chance at a blueblood program, and he’s making the best of it.”
Have you had any unusual encounters with Texas fans?
“When Obama won the election in 2008, Texas had a backup lineman call him a racial slur on his Facebook page. Mack Brown dismissed him from the team. I wrote a column that said Mack Brown did the right thing. I got death threats and obscene phone calls. Our security staff wouldn’t allow me to open my mail because anthrax was happening at that time. The phone calls got so bad that at one point (the police) got involved in it. I was only like 14 months into being a columnist. It was an eye-opener that I wasn’t a reporter anymore.”
