Texas Football: Can Longhorns recreate Week 1 performance vs. LSU?

In Texas football’s season opener against Louisiana Tech it managed to change its historical opening-game loss. Otherwise, this game offered few surprises.

It looks like Texas was that blowout with a 45-14 win over Louisiana Tech. Yes, I know that Alabama destroyed Duke, but everyone expected that. In this, the inaugural 2019 Longhorn game of the Tom Herman era, expectations were, dare I say it — even higher.

History has not been on the Longhorns’ side in their season openers. For two years running, the Longhorns — literally and figuratively — dropped the ball. History didn’t repeat itself in 2019. This game was like a scrimmage for the loaded Longhorns, but it wasn’t much of a test for them. They scored in the first few minutes of the game, and just kept racking up touchdowns like some kind of football-powered slot machine.

Louisiana Tech finally showed some gumption in the third quarter and nailed a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough to stop the bullet train that was Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger. He was firing on all cylinders. So yes, Texas looked great, but the question is, can they recreate their near-effortless dance next week against LSU?

Beating up on Louisiana Tech was easy pickins for Texas. It’s not that Louisiana Tech is a pushover — they’ve had football royalty like LSU on the ropes. But they never seem to be able to close.

Bulldog quarterback J’Mar Smith couldn’t seem to capitalize on missed opportunities. Louisiana Tech’s secondary, easily one of the strongest parts of the Bulldogs’ roster, just didn’t have the size to matchup with the massive defensive line that the Longhorns boast. They didn’t have the chops to slow down Ehlinger, which would have been the key to a Bulldog victory.

There were very few surprises here.

Texas was a 21-point favorite in this game, and covered the spread handily with room to spare.  The biggest takeaway from this game? Texas had a marked tendency the last few years to play down to the level of competition they were playing against. Remember that ugly slugfest of a match against Tulsa in 2018? They seem to have quelled that nasty habit, and still managed to keep a few weapons under wraps.

If Texas can keep their worst excesses in check and maintain focus, they could be a definite contender for the Big 12 crown, and the bigger prize of a spot in the CFP. However, there is a lot of football to be played before then, and Louisiana Tech was not the best barometer of Texas’ future.

Yes, the Longhorns won, and quite handily; but they seemed to be on cruise control. We’ll see if Ehlinger and Co. can keep that fire going next week against LSU.