Alabama Football: No big talk about beating the Tide coming out of Austin
By Ronald Evans
Considering college football is in the middle of the annual ‘big talk’ season, not much is coming out of Austin. Not much that is, about beating Alabama Football. Beyond no claims of a Longhorn upset, there is very little attention being given to the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Sure there is the usual message board chatter, but team sites as yet are not focusing attention on the Sept. 10 game.
Our primary source for all things Longhorn is Hook’Em Headlines. It is a Fansided site with lots of credible content created by Andrew Miller.
Recent content on the site includes almost nothing about the Crimson Tide. One exception is a story discussing how well former Alabama player Agiye Hall has looked in summer workouts.
Otherwise, the site gives considerable attention to recruiting, especially the Texas pursuit of Arch Manning. The current QB battle between Quinn Ewers and Hudson Card is carefully tracked. Some Texas fans are unsure Ewers should be the immediate starter. Unless the Texas offensive line is much improved from last season, the inexperienced Evers might benefit from skipping week two of the season.
Ewers may be tooling around Austin in a new Aston Martin, but he has never thrown a pass in a college football game. His first is expected to come in week one against Louisiana-Monroe.
Alabama Football Defense will make a hot day in Texas, even hotter
The Warhawks’ pass rush and coverage by their secondary will bear no resemblance to what Ewers (or Card) will face in week two.
One subject Andrew Miller has been candid to discuss is how important it is for Steve Sarkisian to win more games in 2022.
"Sark and his staff have a lot to prove this fall. Texas obviously can’t have another disastrous five-win season with a tragic losing streak through the thick of Big 12…… Texas needs to show ample strides on both sides of the ball to spark some optimism about the future of this program both on the field and on the recruiting trail."
It is not known how many Texas fans are willing to be patient with Sark, as long as the Horns can put together a 7-win season and win a bowl game. Eight or nine wins for Texas would be a job well done by Sarkisian. Alabama football fans don’t believe one of those wins will come against the Crimson Tide. It appears not many Texas fans do either.
A quiet buzz continues that Texas (and Oklahoma) will likely compete as SEC conference members in the 2024, and maybe even the 2023 season. Whether it is early, or not until 2025, once Texas finishes the move, there will be no more Longhorn Network.