The season’s first matchup of top-10 teams wasn’t close.
No. 3 Texas dominated the defending national champion Michigan Wolverines 31-12 in a win that solidifies Texas’ status as a national title contender for the second straight season and raises serious questions about Michigan’s ability to get to the expanded College Football Playoff, let alone defend its national title.
Texas put the game away in the first half as Michigan’s offense could hardly do anything right and the defense couldn’t get off the field on third downs. Texas was 8-of-10 on third downs over the first two quarters and both of its failed conversions came in Michigan territory and led to field goal attempts.
It wasn’t hard to find a play from the first half that accurately summed up Michigan’s day. Tight end Colston Loveland — one of the few returning key contributors on offense from last year’s title team — made a catch late in the first half and forced his own fumble when his leg appeared to jar the ball loose from his left hand.
Texas recovered and took a 17-point lead with 10 seconds to go before halftime when Quinn Ewers hit Matthew Golden for a 5-yard TD.
Michigan needs to sort out its offense
It’s clear through the first two games of the season that the Michigan defense can’t cover for the offense all season long. The Wolverines were sluggish in Week 1 against Fresno State before pulling away late with the help of a pick-six. Any thought that the offensive issues were from a vanilla gameplan against a weaker opponent went out the window against the Longhorns. Yards took effort.
QB Davis Warren got the start once again for Michigan after he won the job over Alex Orji in the offseason. So far, Warren has shown to be limited as a passer. Saturday, he was 22-of-33 passing for 204 yards. Many of those yards came in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach.
Last year’s Michigan team was very run-oriented but it also boasted a first-round pick at QB in J.J. McCarthy. With McCarthy and players like Loveland and Roman Wilson catching passes, Michigan could make a play in the passing game when it needed to. This season’s team doesn’t look to have that ability.
That was a problem as Texas snuffed out Michigan’s run game. It was obvious that Michigan and coach Sherrone Moore didn’t trust the passing game on a third down with six minutes to go in the third quarter. Orji entered the game for Warren with five yards to go for a first down.
Predictably enough, Orji was in the game to run the ball. He got stuffed after keeping the ball on a read option and the Wolverines had to settle for a long field goal.
Overall, the Wolverines had just 284 yards and turned the ball over three times.
Is Texas better than it was in 2023?
Last season’s Big 12 champions were the best Texas team in years. Ewers broke out as a star and wide receivers Xavier Worthy and AD Mitchell were early-round draft picks along with RB Jonathon Brooks. The defense had star linemen Byron Murphy (the 16th overall pick) and Outland Trophy winner and second round pick T’Vondre Sweat.
It’s not crazy to think that this Texas team is even better than it was a year ago. Coach Steve Sarkisian loaded back up at wide receiver through the transfer portal and five-star freshman Ryan Wingo, and the defensive line added star pass rusher Trey Moore (14 sacks in 2023) from UTSA.
Wingo’s first touch of the game was a 55-yard run that set up Jaydon Blue’s game-sealing TD.
Saturday’s performance was exactly why Texas entered the SEC as the No. 2 favorite to win the conference ahead of programs like Alabama and Ole Miss. If the Longhorns keep playing like this, it may not be long before we see Texas back at No. 1.
