Can you hear it? That's the sound of Texas knocking on the door of its first national title game appearance since 2009 if this team's heightened level of elite play continues. In the prelims, the Longhorns are this beauty contest's overwhelming favorite to best Georgia at the top of the polls.
We've only tasted the appetizer, but no team nationally has looked more impressive over the first two weeks of the season coming out of Saturday's beatdown of Michigan. The defending national champions were punched in the mouth, kicked in the stomach and left in the alley by a squad on a mission to impress.
This is exactly what the SEC thought it was getting in the College Football Football contender. The Longhorns have added to the league's royal pedigree and moved up to No. 2 in this week's AP Top 25 rankings, garnering four of 63 first-place votes.
No disrespect to Georgia and Kirby Smart's juggernaut in Athens, but was the Longhorns' 52-point win over Colorado State and uppercut of Michigan not enough to push Texas to the top spot given what we've seen on the field? Preseason narratives aside, if we're going by eye test, the Longhorns have produced heat-seeking Cyclops laser beams both weeks.
Georgia's feather in the cap is a destruction of nationally-ranked Clemson in the "neutral site" Atlanta matchup. The Longhorns went on the road and snapped Michigan's 23-game home winning streak with a scalp marking the 2024 season's best win thus far.
If you're playing the long game, Texas, Georgia and Ohio State are all near locks to reach the expanded playoff this fall, but the Longhorns should be closer to the Bulldogs than this week's updated poll results suggest. Ohio State, with wins over Akron and Western Michigan, has one more first-place vote than Texas with no resume to show for it other than preseason enchantment.
Diving into the Longhorns' overall value, Steve Sarkisian's offense is off to scintillating start. Since punting on their first drive of the season against Colorado State, the Longhorns went 15 possessions without another one before Michigan halted that streak over the weekend in the third quarter. That stretch included nine touchdowns, two field goals, a missed kick, one interception and a turnover on downs with Arch Manning as quarterback.
Four players have recorded at least eight receptions over the first two games with Quinn Ewers shining from the pocket as a top-end Heisman candidate. Matthew Golden, a transfer from Houston, has provided the heavy lifting with three touchdown catches while the dynamic combo of Ryan Wingo and Johntay Cook II hasn't even reached the end zone yet.
And remember the fall camp questions surrounding the Texas pass rush after losing multiple NFL Draft picks along potential personnel issues within a new-look secondary? So far, so good on both accounts.
Georgia travels to Kentucky in Week 3 before taking on Alabama later this month. By the end of September, if the Longhorns handle their business against UTSA, ULM and Mississippi State, there will be a new No. 1 once the leaves begin changing their colors this season.
