‘No excuses’ for Texas entering Ohio State rematch
The College Countdown desk takes a look ahead to a massive matchup between Ohio State and Texas in Week 2 and why Arch Manning and Co. must rise to the occasion.
Video Transcript
When- Oh, boy Ohio State- Oh, baby beats Texas in Austin.
And I'm gonna try to separate these two here- Well, I- because I think things could get nasty I might have to come switch seats with you guys to keep them on the edges.
Yeah.
Okay, so you were watching Ohio State- I was in the back.
And yeah, they rolled past Ball State, but you still had a couple concerns.
Yeah, right tackle spot.
And I, I'm looking at, I'm looking at Colin Simmons right now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, and I'm a little bit scared there.
This Ohio State team, obviously very talented.
They're talented on the outside, very talented at the quarterback.
I think they have two things that scare me early in the season.
Mm-hmm.
That right tackle that I mentioned- Mm-hmm and I think that can be a real problem for them.
I also don't think that they have a premium elite pass rusher this year.
Ah, I hear you there.
And the best way, to me, to slow down the Texas offense is to see how much Arch has really improved when he has that pressure on him.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't know if they can force him to do that.
I, I hear you there.
We know both these teams are super talented, if not the two most talented teams in all of college football when you talk about NFL players and everything that surround it.
Texas against Texas State, their defense, they let up some big plays- Mm-hmm in the football game.
Texas State squandered some opportunities inside the five and 10 yard line where they could have got some points.
That was an issue.
I think that, and then the other thing I just question about Texas, and we've went through this last year, I know they ran the ball well yesterday against Texas State, but are they gonna be able to run the ball well against the quality teams- Right across the country?
Right.
They couldn't do that last year, and I gotta see that to believe that first.
So I'm with you, Chris, but we talked about this all off season in that, like Steve Sarkisian actually went out and addressed the biggest issues- Yes.
Right?
Yes.
And he's saying, "Okay, here, Arch Manning, it took him a while to kind of feel more comfortable in this offense.
Let's go out and get him the best available receiver and the best available running back."
And I think Hollywood Smothers- And, and offensive line, too Yeah, exactly.
Yeah and offensive line.
They also decided, hey, a good defense is not good enough.
We wanna be great, so we're gonna go make a coordinator change- Right bring in Will Muschamp.
So that's why, and I've been high on this, that if Texas is really good and they make- the College Football Playoff, they do all the things, you gotta be talking about Sark for Coach of the Year because of these moves that he made.
I, I hear you there.
So I think Hollywood Smothers is gonna be huge difference maker in this game when you compare it- to last year.
And obviously it was Arch's first game, and there was so much.
Yes.
But I, I feel like there's no excuses left for Texas, right?
Yeah, I, I don't feel like there's any excuses either.
And Arch, I think will be much more comfortable having one game under his belt- You do before he had to play Ohio State, as compared to last year.
You're starting your career, we're giving you the Heisman, and go on the road and beat Ohio State.
No problem, guys, I got it.
I'm Arch Manning.
Yeah, that was unrealistic expectations.
That was, that was tough.
Now, you talk about Kam Coleman and Ryan Wingo.
Yeah.
I mean, they're the only maybe two guys in the, in college football that you go, I'm not saying they're Jeremiah Smith, but they're, they're in the conversation-ish.
They're pretty damn good.
Kam, Kam Coleman is a walking highlight reel.
He's a walking highlight reel.
Yeah, he's unbelievable.
When we talk about programs that are in the eye of, of scrutiny, this is college football, but when Ryan Day has fallen short in a big game, everyone's first g- Totally to, to say it.
Now, he won a national championship and that, that quelled some of that.
Mm-hmm.
But for Steve Sarkisian in Texas- Yeah, it's getting to that time you line this thing up.
You lined a home and home up with the Buckeyes.
Mm-hmm.
You really need to get this game.
Yeah, they gotta get this game.
He's c- starting down the road of kind of what we were just talking about with Ryan Day.
They haven't been able to beat Ohio State.
Yeah.
They haven't been able to beat Georgia.
Two teams that are deemed tougher than them, and it's almost the same conversation we've had with Ryan Day in certain years.
Well, and, and to Nicole's point, this feels like the year of zero excuses, right?
You get your quarterback- that you had targeted for many years as the guy who was gonna bring the program back to prominence, offensive line, wide receiver, running back much better.
Defense should be elite this year.
It, he has to make a run.
It, it's gonna And, and last year felt like a year where he probably should have, and they didn't.
Like I, I just don't, I don't think people are gonna look at him the same if he can't take this team- Yeah, I think he knows that deep into the playoffs.
It's weird to say this as well, Joshua, because Ohio State is the number one team in the country, preseason number one, but it also feels like they have to win this game- too- Mm-hmm because their schedule's really challenging.
It is.
And if you're looking at, hey, like where's the wiggle room, you know, what does the resume need to look like, I, I, I really feel like you need to win this.
Yeah.
I mean, this is the interesting thing about the, the argument in the playoff era, though.
You can lose this one, as long as you get, you know, get the wins you need in conference.
The game's at Texas.
Right?
You know, like- If Ohio State loses the game- There's a path through the conference table wins yeah, they get a little bit more of a pass.
I agree.
I agree, but like it does feel im- like- I, I'm with you we're, we're dealing with a committee that is obsessed with the number of losses.
Oh, yeah, they are.
So it's hard to say.
And from here- Meanwhile, just to let you guys know, Notre Dame- I know is starting to whoop Wisconsin up there.
As we're saying.
Well, Wisconsin's moving it a little bit right now.
They can't help it.
No.
They're, they're coaching today.
I think Coach Freeman may have said a few things.
They went down the field first drive.
They got a pick six.
It all started to happen.
They showed the halftime show.
I was gonna say, one of the things that we've learned from week one is these coaches are very mad at their teams- Yeah, totally and their execution.
Yeah, yeah.
They are.
We, we saw that all- Jedd Fisch was very angry.
Jedd Fisch was not happy at all.
