As we crawl closer to kicking off college football’s 2025 campaign, one thing appears to be certain, that the stars are aligning for the Texas Longhorns to win the national championship. Remarkably, this upcoming season will serve as the 20th anniversary of the 2005-06 national championship winning Texas Longhorns team. Then led by Mack Brown, the Longhorns went 13-0 — included was a victory over the star-studded USC Trojans 41-38, courtesy of Vince Young’s run for the roses in the game’s closing seconds.
Fast-forward to present day, and the current ‘Horns appear to have several similarities to that of Brown’s squad from yesteryear.
Texas’ schedule
Now, at first thought, you’re probably wondering how the 2025 schedule could possibly be similar to that of 2005 — especially considering that Texas has changed conferences from the Big 12 to the SEC.
Whelp, there are three programs that overlap — Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Ohio State. Yes, Oklahoma and Texas A&M are rivalry opponents that UT faces year in and year out, however Ohio State is not. Rather, since the Buckeyes are from the Big Ten, OSU is a non-conference competitor for the Longhorns.
Wondering when the last meeting between these two college football blue bloods took place during the regular season? September 10, 2005. Where did the game occur? Ohio Stadium. This season, Texas will not only be playing the Buckeyes, but like in ‘05, the game will commence from Columbus inside The Horseshoe.
The ‘Horns possess a generational QB
As in 2005 with Vince Young, Texas can stake claim to possessing the game’s best talent under center — Arch Manning. The grandson of Archie and nephew to Peyton and Eli, Arch’s time as the starter at UT has finally arrived.
Coming out of high school, Arch was the consensus #1 overall player in the Class of 2023 — according to 247Sports, Manning ranks just behind Vince Young as the 2nd highest rated recruit ever to commit to Texas in the modern-era.
Between the ‘Manning Mania’ fan-fare that accompanied his recruitment to the unparalleled pedigree, prototypical physique, and elite mental makeup that Manning possesses, it’s assumed, if not assured, that Arch will live up to the billing whilst at UT.
As such, I suspect he’ll go into The Shoe, as did Young, and beat Brutus and the Buckeyes.
Texas boasts a dominant defense
As the old adage goes, “defense wins championships”. In 2005-06, the Longhorns allowed just 16.4 points per game — ranking eighth nationally in scoring defense, per TeamRankings. To lead this paltry defense was two first team All-Americans — safety Michael Huff and defensive tackle Rodrique Wright.
As I forecast Texas’ present day defense, I see a roster littered with potential All-America talent. Former five-star recruits, such as defensive back Malik Muhammad, linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., EDGE defender Colin Simmons, and defensive tackle Travis Shaw will lead a unit that finished second in the country in opponent points per game last season — the ‘Horns allowed a minuscule 15.3 points per game in 2024-25.
Needless to say, this Texas team is poised for a title run this year. With premier talent on both sides of the football, coupled with a somewhat serendipitous feel to the schedule and the 20th anniversary of the program’s last championship, the stars, in fact, are aligning for Hook ‘Em and the ‘Horns!
Watch: Texas vs Ohio State | Saturday, Aug. 30 | 12:00 p.m. ET | FOX