A generation ago, an early season showdown such as Saturday night’s game between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Texas in Austin could leave the loser with a significant uphill climb in terms of playing for the national championship.
Those days, of course, are long gone in this era of a 12-team College Football Playoff that is already making headway to a 24-team field, and that was Texas coach Steve Sarkisian’s message earlier this week. The Buckeyes are the first of seven ranked teams that Texas will face this season.
“I don’t think I need to really spend so much energy and time on what this game means, right?” Sarkisian said. “As a competitor, we get an opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the country, and it’s a team we’ve had two battles with the last two years. We know what that takes.
“I’m not so consumed with what the end result might be, because four months down the road, we’ve got other games to go play that can contribute one way or the other to our success that we have in the season. What I am excited about is we get an opportunity to go against the best.”
Texas lost to Ohio State 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl playoff semifinal of the 2024 season and then opened last season with a 14-7 loss to the Buckeyes in Columbus. The Longhorns outgained Ohio State 336-203 in last season’s matchup but didn’t put points on the board until 3:28 remained.
Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning completed 17 of 30 passes for 170 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
“It’s not all the time you get a second chance to play the same team after a rough loss,” Manning said. “So we’re all excited for the opportunity. I think we’ve all grown mentally and physically, and we’re excited.”
Last season’s opener had a noon kickoff on Fox and averaged 16.62 million viewers, making it college football’s most-watched opening weekend contest on record for any network. Saturday’s game will kick off shortly after 7:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC.
“Like I said, I’m not so consumed with what could be down the road,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve got 10 other games to go play that will contribute to that. This is about the the life of a competitor and putting yourself in the arena and performing under stressful conditions, right?
“I bet there are close to 20 million people who watch this game, and that’s pretty cool when you think about it that way.”
This is the game between games for the Ole Miss Rebels.
After opening Sunday night with a 41-38 topping of Louisville inside Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, the Rebels will play their home opener Saturday against Charlotte. Then it will be on to next week’s prime-time showdown at home against LSU and Tigers first-year coach Lane Kiffin, who was in his sixth season in Oxford this time last year.
When asked this week about facing the 49ers, Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said: “They’re faceless. They’re nameless. It doesn’t matter. This is about us, right? If we don’t get some things corrected, we’re going to be playing some real guys coming forward, and we’re not going to like it. I think this came at the right time.”
Charlotte could be the worst team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, having gone 1-11 last season and having opened last weekend with a 43-41 home loss to The Citadel, a Football Championship Subdivision program, in triple overtime.
Will Stein is only one game into his coaching career at Kentucky, and he is already looking to set a program standard.
The Wildcats opened last weekend with a 45-13 drubbing of Youngstown State and will host Alabama on Saturday (3:30 p.m. on ABC) in this season’s first head-to-head matchup of Southeastern Conference teams.
“We have to make this the loudest game in the history of Kentucky football,” Stein said. “That’s my goal for our fans. I want people in the stands for pregame. Let’s have 65,000 watching us warm up. I love to tailgate, too, but get in there, be loud and make it disruptive for them as they get here. When the ball is kicked, I want everybody in their seats and cheering as loud as they humanly can.
“I want people’s voices hoarse when they leave here. They’ve got to take off work on Monday because they can’t talk.”
There will be intrigue out of the game Saturday when Oklahoma travels to face Michigan for a noon pairing on Fox.
The Sooners quietly opened with a 51-0 shellacking of UTEP, but there was nothing quiet about Michigan’s second-chance 13-12 victory over Western Michigan that is already being dubbed “Bail Mary” due to Big Ten officials adding a second on the game clock, which gave the Wolverines another chance to escape.
“We’ve put Michigan in a great light like they deserve for a long time here for the last several months,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “To not play your best when it comes to turnover margin, maybe rushing, time of possession and the things that from a stat sheet didn’t go in your favor, and still overcome that and have a chance to win says a lot about what they have in the locker room.”
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Pasquali’s Pix
Oklahoma at Michigan: The Sooners better be prepared to play in Ann Arbor for the full 60 minutes and one second. Sooners 23, Wolverines 13.
Western Kentucky at Georgia: At long last the Bulldogs can have their own Stormtrooper look. Bulldogs 48, Hilltoppers 10.
Alabama at Kentucky: The Crimson Tide are a staggering 33-1 in SEC openers since 1992, losing only to Ole Miss in 2015. Crimson Tide 33, Wildcats 24.
Delaware at Vanderbilt: The Blue Hens have been playing football since 1899 and are just now playing an SEC foe. Commodores 35, Blue Hens 10.
UTC at Eastern Kentucky: The Mocs have yet to lose a road game in their 50th season as a Division I program. Mocs 24, Colonels 17.
Tennessee at Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets haven’t started 0-2 since 1989. Volunteers 31, Yellow Jackets 24.
Ohio State at Texas: Manning last week had 305 passing yards, four aerial touchdowns and one scary stumble in a smoke-filled pregame tunnel. Longhorns 19, Buckeyes 17.
Southern Miss at Auburn: Last week’s 17-16 escape of Baylor marked Auburn’s first one-point victory since the “Camback” at Tuscaloosa in 2010. Tigers 34, Golden Eagles 16.
Other picks:
Missouri 34, Kansas 27
Florida 49, Campbell 16
Mississippi State 33, Minnesota 30
Texas A&M 42, Arizona State 19
South Carolina 55, Towson 8
LSU 48, Louisiana Tech 15
Ole Miss 70, Charlotte 3
Utah 41, Arkansas 14
Miami 57, Florida A&M 12
Oregon 56, Oklahoma State 21
Indiana 65, Howard 0
North Carolina 52, ETSU 9
Notre Dame 58, Rice 7
Boise State 27, Memphis 24
Marshall 30, MTSU 23
Clemson 39, Georgia Southern 10
Texas Tech 51, Oregon State 26
Winners — 24
Michigan stoppage time — 1
Pasquali is 24-1 (96.0%) for the season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.