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Texas Football: Way-too-early game-by-game predictions for 2020

By Jake Mitchell

HOUSTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 14: Head coach Tom Herman of the Texas Longhorns prepares to lead the team onto the field before the game against the Rice Owls at NRG Stadium on September 14, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 14: Head coach Tom Herman of the Texas Longhorns prepares to lead the team onto the field before the game against the Rice Owls at NRG Stadium on September 14, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /
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MANHATTAN, KS – NOVEMBER 05: The Kansas State Wildcats prepare to run off the field after warm-ups prior to the game against the Baylor Bears at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium on November 5, 2015 in Manhattan, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
MANHATTAN, KS – NOVEMBER 05: The Kansas State Wildcats prepare to run off the field after warm-ups prior to the game against the Baylor Bears at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium on November 5, 2015 in Manhattan, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

Big 12 play opens in one of the most difficult ways possible for Herman and company. Going into Manhattan is never an easy task, with great teams being strongly tested, and even defeated, on multiple occasions in recent years.

Last year, it was Oklahoma who walked in undefeated, and left as 48-41 losers who then had an uphill battle to try and save their playoff lives for the rest of the year.

The Wildcats have entered a new era. After 20 years of Bill Snyder (broken up by a few forgettable seasons under Ron Prince), there is now a new man in Manhattan. Former North Dakota State coach Chris Klieman has taken over, and he has legendary shoes to fill.

Snyder, of course, became an icon at Kansas State by winning an average of under eight games a year and taking home two Big 12 titles in a 27-year period. An 8-5 record for Klieman last season, his first, has him right in the sweet spot in Manhattan.

This will be a tough way to enter conference play for the Longhorns, but it does come early enough that they should avoid being caught off guard. If Herman took this team to Manhattan in the middle of the Big 12 slate, sandwiched in between teams like Baylor and TCU, it could be a much different story.

For now, however, the more-talented Longhorns will open up the year with a clean 4-0 mark.

Prediction: Texas 31, Kansas State 21 (4-0, 1-0 Big 12)

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