Texas football has arguably its biggest game of the season on Friday. The Longhorns will matchup against No. 13 Iowa State. Here are three ways they can pull off the victory.
Sam Ehlinger
Sam Ehlinger has had a mixture of really great performances and some average ones this season. The Longhorns are going to need Ehlinger if they hope to complete the upset and beat Iowa State on Friday. We haven’t seen Ehlinger and the Longhorns play since Nov. 7 against West Virginia. It’s going to be a wait-and-see approach to see what he did to work on his game during the bye week. One thing is for certain is if he plays like he has these last three games, things aren’t going to look good for Texas’ Big 12 Championship hopes.
Ehlinger should show out in the game this Friday. We’re still not sure what has been bothering him, whether it was an injury affecting his play or that he just needs to slow the game down. Regardless, Ehlinger should play well in what should be a shootout game.
Running game
One thing the Longhorns can do to help out Ehlinger, is to run the football. If they run the ball well on Friday, then that helps them not only control the time of possession but makes them unpredictable as well. This will result in keeping that dangerous Iowa State offense off the field and sets up better plays overall.
With the extra bye week, Keaontay Ingram might make is return for this game. Despite Bijan Robinson‘s play since Ingram’s injury occurred, this will do nothing but help the Longhorns depth. Robinson deserves more carries and deserves them since he’s outplayed Ingram this season. We’ll just have to see what Tom Herman decides to do.
Texas defense
After having several lackluster performances in the first few weeks of the season, this defense played outstanding since the first bye week. The best game this Longhorn defense played was against Oklahoma State, and there is no way this team would even be in this position without the play of its defense. This defense needs to have another outstanding performance if Texas hopes to win on Friday.
The one player this defense must focus on is Iowa State running back Breece Hall. Hall has played tremendously this season and is the main reason the Cyclones even have a chance at the Big 12 Championship this year. Hall has already run for over 1,000 yards this season in only eight games. He’s also run for over 100 yards in each of those games. He definitely needs to be a point of emphasis for this defense.
Texas football is going to win this game, but its going to be very close. The Longhorns need to take advantage of every turnover and offensive possession they get in this game. Herman needs this win to prove he can lead the Longhorns to a Big 12 Championship. We’ll have to wait and see if those extra few days, helped them prepare well. Texas is going to win with a final score of 45-42.
Photo courtesy of Iowa State Athletic Communications
