Alabama (1-0) at Texas (1-0)
When: Saturday, September 10th 2022
Where: Texas Memorial Stadium,
Austin, TX
Time: 12:00 ET | TV: FOX
Opening Odds: Alabama -18.5/61.5
It’s been a long time since the Texas Longhorns were relevant when it comes to the National Championship picture. They haven’t won a title since 2005 nor won a conference title since 2009. This Saturday is a grand opportunity to call themselves ‘back’ if they can pull off a monumental upset of top-ranked Alabama at home. The Longhorns opened the season with a 52-10 route of Louisiana-Monroe last week, while the Crimson Tide walloped Utah State 55-0. Texas, which went 5-7 in head coach Steve Sarkisian’s first season, will join Alabama in the Southeastern Conference in 2025 – or earlier. Sarkisian was the offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide in their championship season of 2020 and this would be the biggest win of his career.
Alabama doesn’t play many true road games out of conference, so this will be a pretty good test even though oddsmakers think this will be a blowout. The Tide are favored by 20 as of Wednesday evening with a total of 65.5. The offense and defense looked in mid-season form in the shutout of a decent Utah State team last week at home. Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young picked right up where he left off by accounting for six touchdowns on Saturday. Alabama is just 1-7-1 all-time against Texas with their lone win coming the last time these teams played. It was the BCS Championship game in 2010, a game won 37-21 by Alabama to give Nick Saban his first national championship at the school. The previous eight meetings all occurred prior to 1983 and five of them were bowl games.
Alabama was led defensively Saturday by linebackers Henry To’oTo’o and Chris Braswell with the latter recording four tackles, including one for a 10-yard loss, and a forced fumble. The unit held Utah State to just 136 total yards although they did not come up with a sack. Young threw for 195 yards and five touchdowns and also ran for 100 yards and a score. It was his fourth career game with five touchdown passes in 24 career games, three behind the all-time leader at the school in Tua Tagovailoa. The impressive outing means he is now the betting favorite to win the Heisman over Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and USC’s Caleb Williams. Alabama will host UL Monroe next week.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers, who transferred from Ohio State, overcame an interception on his second pass before settling down. Ewers threw for 225 yards and two touchdowns in the route of UL Monroe. Junior running back Bijan Robinson is a big part of the offense and scored a rushing and receiving touchdown. Last year, Robinson rumbled for 1,127 yards. Texas was a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth-down against Monroe and will probably have to be as aggressive this Saturday in order to pull off the upset. The defense limited the Warhawks to 259 yards and just 2.2 yards a rush. The Longhorns will host Texas-San Antonio next week.
I think the spotlight will be too big for the Longhorns and their freshman quarterback. The Texas defense is also an issue. Nothing can stop Alabama’s offense right now and this one could get ugly.
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Pick: Alabama -20
