Are Texas Longhorns College Football's Best Team?
The No. 3 Texas Longhorns won in convincing fashion in a 40-14 blowout of then-No. 24 Kansas on Saturday night.
And despite the blowout, the Longhorns played far from their best game.
Meanwhile, the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs looked a bit sluggish in a 27-20 win over the unranked Auburn Tigers, while the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines dominated in a 45-7 drubbing of lowly Nebraska.
Elsewhere in the top 10, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Florida State were off, while No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Washington and No. 8 Oregon all won convincingly. No. 9 USC and No. 10 Notre Dame also got wins - though they were each too close for comfort.
All of which begs the question, is Texas the best team in college football?
Quinn Ewers celebrates a Texas Longhorns touchdown vs. Kansas
© Scott Wachter, USA TODAY
Well, the easy answer is - we don't know.
The season is not even half over yet at this point, so it is impossible to tell which team is 2023's true alpha dog.
But Texas does certainly have the best resumé. And they have as good a claim as anyone to be considered for the alpha dog title.
Yes, the Alabama win doesn't look as impressive as it would have in years past. And yes, Jayhawks star quarterback Jaylon Daniels did not play on Saturday.
But, the Longhorns - outside of a couple of plays - thoroughly dominated the Tide. Besides that, the Tide have looked like a much different team over the last two weeks against Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
As for the Jayhawks, the Longhorns were clearly the better team and never in any danger of falling in Austin - whether or not Daniels was in the lineup.
How do we know that? Well, Daniels doesn't play defense. On Saturday, the Longhorns gained the seventh-most offensive yards in a game in school history, rushing for 336 yards and throwing for 325.
In truth, it was complete dominance from the Horns' offense.
Adonai Mitchell makes another first down catch
© Scott Wachter, USA TODAY
Jonathon Brooks rushed for 218 yards and two touchdowns, Quinn Ewers threw for 325 yards and Adonai Mitchell had a career-high 141 yards receiving and a score. Xavier Worthy also added 93 yards on seven catches.
"Anytime you can throw for over three hundred, you can rush for over three hundred, have a 200-yard rusher and have two receivers basically have 100 yards receiving, that's a good balance," Sarkisian said. "The ball was getting spread around the right way today. I thought we were very efficient, and although we really didn't throw the ball over their head we found explosive plays. We remained explosive as an offense today. I thought defensively we played a really good game."
The defense also held Kansas and backup QB Jason Bean - who is extremely talented and has played plenty of football in his own right - to just 260 yards of offense.
Moreover, were it not for one freak play and another busted coverage, Texas might have shut out the Jayhawks.
Yes, the same Jayhawks team took down BYU 38-27, and dispensed with Big 10 foe Illinois 34-23.
"They hit two plays," Sarkisian said. "We had a little issue with the option game, you know they were running some triple option at us that we had to adjust to, and that was what the first touchdown was. And then they hit the big post off of a tempo play, but outside of that our defense played really well again."
It is true that Texas has struggled at times. In particular against Rice and Wyoming. Which, yes is cause for concern to a degree.
Georgia Bulldogs tight end Brock Bowers (19) runs the ball into the end zone after a catch for the game-sealing touchdown as Auburn Tigers take on Georgia Bulldogs at Jordan-Hare Stadium
Jake Crandall-USA TODAY NETWORK
That said, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Florida State have also had their issues.
Georgia had their aforementioned near defeat at the hands of Auburn, and their struggle against South Carolina. Michigan hasn't looked perfect either, having their issues with Rutgers and Bowling Green before finally putting them away.
Ohio State meanwhile, looked sluggish against Indiana and Youngstown State, while needing Notre Dame mistakes to escape South Bend with a win.
Florida State has also come close to defeat in their last two games against unranked Boston College and Clemson.
So what does all that mean? Well mostly, we still don't know squat about who the best team in the country is.
For all we know, it could be Washington, who has looked dominant in each of their first five games.
Zachary BonDurant-USA TODAY Sports
The other thing we know is that this coming Saturday will tell us a whole lot.
Oregon and Washington face off in Seattle, Georgia faces a seemingly very good Kentucky team in Athens, and Michigan faces what could be a tricky test at night in Minneapolis against Minnesota.
As for the Longhorns, they could have the toughest test of them all, as they head north to Dallas to take on the No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Rivalry.
Suffice it to say, this weekend could help separate the alpha from the rest of the pack... or at least some of the contenders.
And Texas has a golden opportunity to show the rest of the country what they are truly capable of.
Until then, we simply all must sit and wait for the chips to fall where they may.
