Texas football: Grading our bold predictions for opener vs. Louisiana Tech
We made some prediction ahead of the Texas season opener against Louisiana tech. Some of them were right on the money. Others? well, not so much.
Let's have a look at them
1. Texas will rush for 200-plus yards
The Longhorns didn't get a whole lot going in the first half on the ground against the Bulldogs and an injury to freshman Jordan Whittington may have had a role in derailing the ground game.
Texas finished with just 153 yards on 30 attempts with Keaontay Ingram leading the way on 11 carries for 78 yards and a score.
Texas did use the swing and screen game a ton, which really should count as an extension of the ground game, but we'll go ahead and take the "L" on this one.
Hit or miss? Miss
2. A freshman wide receiver will score a touchdown
Right on the money here. Brennan Eagles had himself a coming out party with a pair of touchdown catches.
Jake Smith was painfully close on a couple of plays to breaking a long pass play, but a drop and a missed throw from Ehlinger kept him from hitting a big play. Still Smith did finish with four catches for 31 yards on the day, third on the team behind Devin Duvernay and Collin Johnson.
Hit or miss? Hit
3. The Longhorns will score a non-offensive touchdown
Man oh man, there should be a huge asterisk next to this one. Josseph Ossai stepped in front of a Bulldog pass and raced the length of the field for what looked like a pick six in the second half, but a ticky-tack roughing the passer call stopped it from going down.
Still, the Longhorns were able to get a pair of takeaways that set up scores and helped the offense overwhelm the overmatched Bulldogs.
We'll write down miss here, but we're not happy about it.
Hit or miss? Miss
4. The game will be close at halftime, but Texas will pull away to win by three or more scores
The Longhorns were far sharper than I expected coming out of the gate, but were also aided by a pair of missed field goals in the first half and a failed fourth down conversion. The Bulldogs certainly had a few chances to keep things respectible before halftime, but the fact is that Texas did all the little things right and made the most of all the breaks in their favor to put the game away early.
We were correct on the three-or-more score prediction and our 38-17 final score prognostication was nearly on the nose in the 45-14 outcome.
Since this was a two-parter, we're giving ourselves half credit on this one. This is what happens when you get to grade your own paper.
Hit or miss? Half-and-half
