Paul Wadlington

This is a hypothetical. The early news on Goosby is quite encouraging, but early news is early and doesn't account for a full range of outcomes. If you're too reactive or too in love with peeing your pants in panic to process speculation, do not read the article.

For this installment, I'm going to excerpt from my section in the 2026 Longhorn Football Prospectus. What have you done to deserve such grace?

Several programs announced their starting QB over the last week and five different SEC programs had legitimate battles that went until the last days of camp. The contested battles had some real surprises, but the overARCHING trend of SEC QB play points only in one direction. Athletes behind center.

College football's Week Zero proves every year that to a starving man, a moldy saltine cracker is Aaron Franklin's brisket and a Route 44 Sonic Limeade served by Sydney Sweeney wearing roller skates.

Week Zero was a reminder that talking season isn't football season. When the bullets fly, you find out who went to war with an Airsoft. The theme for this offseason and Week 0 was the inability to handle the spotlight.

GJ Kinne has done a terrific job in San Marcos, delivering the school's first FBS bowl win in its history in his first season and then delivering two more over his next two campaigns, stringing together three consecutive winning seasons at a program that hadn't seen one since 2015. Kinne boasts a 23-16 record during his three year tenure and in the three years prior to his arrival, they were a combined 10-26, with a 26-73 record stretching back to 2015.

Texas State will have to take some strides on defense after last year's rough outing if they're going to be a serious Pac 12 contender or give the Longhorns a scare in Austin. In 2025, Texas State surrendered 29 points per game and opponents scored on 48 of their 55 red zone trips. Beyond simple counting stats, they were the 115th ranked FEI defense in college football.

SEO dictated my pithy title, but the Texas Longhorns dictated the game on Saturday. This was the sort of efficient destruction I've been wanting to see from a Sarkisian football team for some time now and the Longhorns delivered. Texas racked up 516 yards of offense on only 70 plays (7.4 yards per play) and finished with only 4 penalties for 35 yards. Sark wanted the clock moving to minimize wear and tear, but that didn't come at the expense of fireworks.

35 different Texas defenders got snaps against Texas State and we'll see that number almost cut in half against the Buckeyes in just a few days. On review, the effort level was OK, but Texas missed double digit tackles in the teens, and it was interesting to see how many varied fronts we ran against the Bobcats with a hockey line rotation up front. I'll factor in 150 degrees on the field into some of my hustle math.