Oklahoma football: How Big 12 race will shake out in 2022
By Chip Rouse
No. 2 — Texas Longhorns (10-2 overall, 8-1 in Big 12)
To say head coach Steve Sarkisian was unhappy with the way the Longhorns finished the 2021 season may be the understatement of the offseason. After starting out 2021 4-1, Texas proceeded to lose six consecutive conference games, all seemingly triggered by Oklahoma’s shocking 55-48 win over the Longhorns in the annual Red River rivalry game after being down by 21 points in the first quarter.
After halftime in that one game, the season all went off the cliff for Texas Sarkisian has spent the offseason beefing up his staff and building for the future. He brought in a top-five 2022 recruiting class, picked off Ohio State transfer and former five-star quarterback prospect Quinn Evers (not to mention landing the No. 1 overall QB recruit in the 2023 class in Arch Manning), and convinced longtime TCU head coach Gary Patterson to join him as a special assistant.
All of those moves are of the blockbuster variety and should be enough to bring the Longhorns back from the depths to which they sunk a year ago. The problem is, we’ve been hearing “Texas is back” a number of times over the past five or so seasons, and it just hasn’t managed to translate to the field and the actual games.
The Longhorns are again loaded with talent. The problem at Texas has been at the quarterback position. The Longhorns have not had a truly outstanding quarterback lived up to all the hype in the mid-2000s and Colt McCoy overachieved at the position thereafter. Now the quarterback reins have been handed to Quinn Evers, who has yet to take a college snap in an actual game but has a year of college growth under his belt.
If Evers is the real deal — and we’ll find that out very early in the season as Texas hosts mighty Alabama, the presumed No. 1 team in the country to begin the season, on Sept. 10 — watch out, Texas may really be back this time. Evers is surrounded by offensive weapons with 85 percent of the rushing production returning and nearly 80 percent of the pass receiving production. Plus, three starters return on the offensive line.
The defense was one of the worst in the Big 12 last season. They do have some new faces to work into the mix, but with Gary Patterson helping out, you have to believe they should be better defensively. They surely couldn’t get much worse.
Several preseason polls, including the Big 12 Media Poll, have Texas finishing fourth in the Big 12 this season. I think this Longhorn team could be the surprise team in the conference this season.
Texas has to go on the road to play at Oklahoma State and at Kansas State, which has been a thorn in the Horns’ rear end for many years. They have Baylor and Iowa State at home, though, and, of course, there is the annual Red River game with Oklahoma.
I have Texas losing to Alabama in Week 2 and at Oklahoma State for the Longhorns’ lone conference loss. Sorry Sooner fans, I think this is Texas’ year in the Red River Showdown, handing Oklahoma its lone regular-season loss.