Texas Football: Longhorns strike first vs Terps with pick six

Texas football didn’t waste any time proving their defense will be better in 2017 scoring the first points of the game with a pick six.

Charlie Strong was brought in a few years ago to shore up a Longhorn defense that was struggling. During his tenure, Texas didn’t get back to where they wanted to be on that side of the ball. Now, just a few plays into the 2017 campaign, the Longhorns have at the very least gotten off on the right foot.

On third down the Texas defense needed to find a way to get off the field. They did a bit better than that. Maryland quarterback Tyrell Pigrome‘s first pass of the afternoon was picked off by Holton Hill and returned for the Longhorn’s first touchdown of 2017.

Here’s how it looked live:

The Longhorns have been a trendy dark horse pick all offseason to make a run at the Big 12 title. One play is going to get them there, but one win is a step in that direction. Texas is supposed to win their hope opener, and they’re doing what they can to make that happen before the offense ever takes the field.

After Maryland, the Longhorns have a tune up game against San Jose State before a gigantic matchup with the USC Trojans. If both teams can hold serve and enter that game as undefeated foes the hype might just explode.

Next: Game by game predictions for the Longhorns in 2017

The phrase “Texas is back” has been a running joke for most of the offseason. They’re in position to win game one, but they’ve got some work to do before they can really be anointed as a true contender in college football in 2017.