Texas Longhorns v Michigan: Who will come out on top?

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas is coming off a dominant week one victory against the Colorado State Rams. The Longhorns beat CSU 52-0 on the backs of Quinn Ewers' three touchdowns and a dominant defensive outing. 

Now they turn their focus to the defending National Champion, the Michigan Wolverines. 

Michigan had more trouble in their opener against a pesky Fresno State squad. The Bulldogs managed to keep the game to a one-scoring game late into the fourth quarter. Michigan eventually pulled away with a Davis Warren touchdown throw and Will Johnson pick-6, winning the game 30-10. 

MORE STORIES:

• Texas Longhorns have momentum heading into game against Michigan
• Ewers throws 3 TD passes to help No. 4 Texas roll over Colorado State 52-0 in opener

In this segment, FOX 7 Austin's Julian Martinez spoke with ESPN Radio's Jeff Ward about some of the highlights from Texas' week one victory against Colorado State and looked ahead to the big game at The Big House. 

Will the Wolverines find their offensive identity or are the Longhorns too much to handle? 

Watch the full episode of The Sports Office on FOX Local nightly at 8 p.m. CST. 

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A full transcript of the video is below:

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Julian Martinez: Welcome in to the Fox seven sports office. Julian Martinez, here joined in studio by Jeff Ward, hosted the "Jeff ward Show." ESPN 102.7, Jeff Ward. All streaming platforms as well. 

Jeff Ward: Yeah, podcast as well. 

Julian Martinez: But Jeff, obviously we're coming off a huge week one victory for the Longhorns 52 to 0. I was more impressed by the defense. I don't know. I mean, in a game in which the Longhorns put up 50 points the defense shutting down Colorado State like they did, I thought that they were most impressive. What about you? What was your biggest takeaway? 

Jeff Ward: So I mean, there's a there's one absolute takeaway. And that is never put too much into one way or another, good or bad into a first game, especially when you're a 35 point favorite. So you just sort of look at a first game, as do you check the boxes, do you play solid? Do you play disciplined? Do you minimize the penalties? And then if you're a 35 point favorite, you want to get out of there healthy. And they did that I mean, Texas did. I mean arguably they checked every single box you could have. So it's all good. But they're about to step up in weight class.

Julian Martinez: Yeah, in fact, even a box they checked was they even got to get the second unit in there. We got to see a little bit of Arch Manning. Stadium got super loud getting to see arch out there for the first time. Well, not first time, but like first time this season. 

Jeff Ward: Yeah. I mean the crazy thing is, if you go and look at any site today, it doesn't necessarily list the Texas score. Every story, every headline is going to be Arch Manning going 4-for-4 or whatever.

Julian Martinez: Oh, you got gotta mine that algorithm from time to time. We all know it. 

Jeff Ward: the Manning algorithm works every time.

Julian Martinez: Oh yeah I know. Shoot your headline to the top of the list right. Yeah. Right. But no, let's not to overwrite what Quinn did. We look good. I mean, little shaky at the start there. I got to tell you, I was a little underwhelmed at the start of the game in the offensive line because obviously the interception. Right? Yep. So just the pocket collapse Quinn gets outside. He did have a open wide receiver. They showed us later in the broadcast. They had open wide receiver there. Tried to do too much. Gets the ball tipped out of his hands. And yeah interception going the other way. But I mean Colorado State couldn't do anything about it but like once they got rolling in that second quarter it just seemed like all systems go. We weren't looking. 

Jeff Ward: Yeah. Well I mean it's it's a first game. You're going to like I said, you've you've gotta, you've you've got to take the good with the bad. And there's going to be bad, especially in college football where you don't really have that much time to prepare. I mean, people don't realize how short that preseason is certainly compared to NFL, even compared to high school. You practice more in high school, you do in college. So, you know, the takeaway is you just have to be really careful about the takeaway on extremes, really good or really bad. But it's, those mistakes are magnified starting next week because you step up completely in weight class. In fact, I would argue that Texas plays I would say the second best defense they'll face all year will be Michigan. So the toughest defense will be Georgia. But Michigan is going to have three players taking the top 20 of the draft. Maybe even higher than that. Maybe top 15. Yeah, they have the best defensive lineman in the game, interior defensive lineman in the game. They have the best corner in the game right now, and then they have the best tight end as well, who was basically all they had on offense a week ago. So the defense is top class for Michigan. The offense is clunky really, really clunky and I would submit that for Texas, I think you get the 28, you win. You might even just get to, you know, just need 24 to win. That's how that's how suspect that Michigan offense is.

Julian Martinez: Yeah. It's going to be an absolute rock fight I mean Michigan they're coming off this game with Fresno State where it just didn't seem like they could get anything going. They're playing two quarterbacks right now I mean, last week when we talk about, going against a mountain West opponent, I mentioned last year's game against Wyoming for Texas and how sometimes, you know, you could overlook an opponent. Yeah. I don't know if Michigan was overlooking Fresno State. It kind of seemed like, yeah, they're trying to just get that two quarterback system figured out, trying to figure out their running game because Donovan Edwards didn't really get him a real momentum in there, as well. Not that they're going to be like the type of offense that drops back and throws it 30 times anyway, right? But it didn't seem like they really even had that in their arsenal. 

Jeff Ward: No, I don't think it's a matter of them overlooking someone. I just think they're starting from scratch. I mean, you'd have a hard time finding anybody that's top 20 from a year ago being gutted like they were offensively. Not to mention you, you lose your head coach who is the offensive coordinator. So, I think they're that much of an offensive mess right now. If you're going to play Michigan, I'd get him right now because once they figure it out, they're going to have talent. They just, you know, I mean, look, bringing back a veteran quarterback means everything in the college game I mean means everything. So they're starting from scratch and nobody wants to alternate quarterbacks. Nobody wants to switch. If you switch, that means you don't have anybody. But I think they're in this phase right now where they've got to figure it out. And the way the game is set up now, you're trying. It's sort of like the NCAA basketball tournament. You're trying to peak at the right time. Yes. And so you've got a while, believe it or not, to figure it out particularly early in the year because you're just playing, I don't think anybody thinks they're going to win the Big Ten, but they want to get a playoff berth. And so you're trying to figure everything out. By the time you get to October, November, December, you're playing well enough. That you do get launched into that 12 team playoff. 

Julian Martinez: Well, what do you think it meant though? I mean, because the trap game narrative was thrown around for Colorado State going into this Michigan game for Texas. What do you make of them coming out here and saying no, no, no, no, we're going to hang 50 on this team. We're 35 point favorites, but we're still going to hang 50 on this team no matter what.

Jeff Ward: That's a good look. That's what you want. Like I said, they were as sharp as they could be. Now Granted, they started slowly, but, I mean, you put 52 points and you give up none. I don't know what you know. I don't know what else you can ask for except the last. The last box to check is, do you get out of a game like that? Healthy. And Texas did. 

Julian Martinez: I do think that Norvell and them played it a little bit more conservative than I think underdogs should. I was like waiting for them. It's like "okay, your air raid offense. Are you really going to challenge the secondary?" And with that said I thought the secondary looked a lot better than last year, from what I could tell. You know, again, you're trying you're saying don't make sweeping assumptions off of week one but Jahdae Barron basically running the route for the wide receiver there and getting that big interception against the Colorado State quarterback in the second quarter, I thought that I was very impressive. That was the real only time I felt like Colorado State tried to challenge them deep and pick them apart. Another thing that stood out to me, because we have our questions about the running game coming off the two major injuries that we suffered in camp, how Trey Wisner and Jaydon Blue in that combination was going to work. And I thought they looked efficient. Yeah. Jaydon Blue kind of struck me as like a bit of a bowling ball when he would go in there and, he was hard to bring down. And I think that that's going to be a pitch that I think this Longhorn offense is going to really need going into this, again, rock fight in Michigan. 

Jeff Ward: Yeah. Well, I mean, two things are gonna have to have one. Is the elephant in the room for Texas. The last couple years have been their secondary. It's not exposed very often but if you look at the games they get beaten. It's because they get torched in the secondary. 

Julian Martinez: Not going to be a problem this week. 

Jeff Ward: No, it's not coming. It may not even be in the air at all this week. That's why I think 24-28 wins it for Texas. But I mean, that's what they have. They have to improve that. It's not a risk this week. But that's the thing that has stopped them in their tracks. I mean, they've won. They've played well offensively in fact the entire last season. It's just eventually they run up against a good quarterback and they end up getting torched. So if you had to find an area where they had to improve, you know, if you want to go deep in a playoff that's there, they're going to have to improve because sooner or later you're going to run up against good quarterbacks. Not that many a year, but you're going to run up a few. The second thing is, is they've got to have a running game, especially against Michigan. You become predictable against Michigan. They'll tear you up up front. It is a completely different weight class. Like I said, it's the second best defense in the game. So for Quinn Ewers to get time, you got to stay away from third and eighth and ten and fifteens and things like that. Because you get predictable against Michigan and it'll turn into fourth and 25.

Julian Martinez: Now you did mention they have a All-Pro corner in Michigan as well. And I anticipate he's obviously going to shut down one side of the field. But one thing we've been talking about all offseason with this Longhorns team is that they have a deep, wide receiving room, and I think we saw that against Colorado State. To the point where I'm not even sure, like who is really the alpha wide receiver right now? I think it was Matthew Golden that had two touchdowns, Isaiah Bond had a touchdown in there. I think he was the recipient of that "no-look" Quinn Ewers throw yeah. this well that was trending across the internet. who would you say really established themselves as like the favorite target?

Jeff Ward: I think it's going to eventually be Bond. I mean, I think he's, you know, he's he's had plenty of snaps. He's had big games. He's played under the lights in big games. I mean, I think eventually he's their guy but they have that luxury right now. Again, they're they're thinking the same way everyone else does. I need to be as good as I can be by the end of the year, November, December. That that's that's when that rotation of eight and ten guys turns into six guys. And then that's when you're going to know you probably won't see it for sure, probably for another 3 or 4 games. I mean they've got a, Texas got a schedule outside this Michigan game, which I mean, WHEN was the last time Michigan was a five and a half point underdog in Ann Arbor? 

Julian Martinez: Yeah,

Jeff Ward: I mean think about that. I mean. 

Julian Martinez: caught them at the right time. 

Jeff Ward: Yeah. Absolutely. So and I don't think it's a ridiculous line either. I mean they're just they're that clunky on offense. But once you remove this Michigan game for Texas, I mean really the entire season about mid-October, those back to back games against Oklahoma and Georgia define their season because they got a lucky draw the first year in the SEC. I mean, they have really have easy games. They're just sandwiched that two weeks in October defines their entire year. 

Julian Martinez: And it was fortunate to they also get that bye week before even the Oklahoma game. We talked about it a little last week. But like the road games, the toughest road games you have remaining are going to be that game at Fayetteville and then College Station. So, like you said, they did get a favorable draw schedule wise this year But winning Michigan, regardless of how it looks on paper, we again talk about all the losses that they have on their team. It still is going to be beating a top ten team at the start of the season. As we look towards this like race, as far as who's going to get in, who's going to get out. Obviously who's going to win the SEC is going to be dictated by that game against Georgia. However, those wild card spots, you know, need to be figured out.

Jeff Ward: Yeah. I mean, look, it's remember once you get outside the conference champions it's once again, it's a beauty contest. And I think beauty contest name and being a blue blood matters and Texas and Michigan have that. And then it's strength of schedule that matters and Texas doesn't have, necessarily in the SEC, doesn't have that. So a game like Michigan, particularly if you can pad points, you come out of there with 8-10 point win that that means a lot. It means a lot to that committee. Once they're starting to see people, once you get, you know, wipe out the conference champions who get who get automatically. 

Julian Martinez: What is your score prediction? How are you feeling this week? 

Jeff Ward: Oh, gosh. Well, first of all, I'd say first to 28, wins. Certainly if it's Texas, I mean, you can either you can even make an argument that 20 Michigan get to 24 is hard to see right now. And I'm not I mean, that's a combination. The Texas defense may being that good. We don't know yet. Maybe it is But that that was not a mirage you saw a week ago from Michigan. They just don't have the players yet. They don't have the quarterback yet. They just they don't know who they are. So them getting 24-28 is hard to see. I mean you pass for what they have 120 or something in their very first game and that was a struggle. So yeah, I think I think Texas gets to 24-28. They get a win.

Julian Martinez: I think I'm with you there. I feel like 28 to 13 is the number that I kind of put in my head coming into this matchup as well. Because yeah, I just feel as though at first off, again, I mentioned it in the first half, but Pete Kwiatkowski this defense, they did a good job against Colorado State because I don't think Colorado State is actually gonna be a chump offense throughout the year, they'll even out as things go on, right? Yeah. But they made a statement. They made them conservative and they erased what was an air raid offense. Michigan doesn't have. Yeah, Michigan right now obviously they want to identify as a running team but I don't think Donovan Edwards, certainly if they start him, is good enough.

Jeff Ward: Yeah. Well what you don't want if you're Texas and what Michigan wants to do is they want to take the air out of it. I mean, they want they want to shorten that game as much as they can. As good as their defense is, you still want to keep them off the field. And so I think Michigan, the smart thing to do is just run it until Texas stops it. Yes. And then maybe even keep doing it because you don't want to get what Michigan doesn't want to do. And you know, you would never tell your team this. But the reality is you don't want to chase points you don't want to spot. All of a sudden Texas comes out and make a mistake or two. You throw it when you shouldn't. Texas jumps out ten points or so. Now you're caught. You're trying to catch up. Yes. And they're not at all built for that. They weren't built like that with Jim Harbaugh, so it's certainly not that way now. That's what they have to be fearful of, is they just need to settle in and just keep that game as close as they can, as long as they can. 

Julian Martinez: if you're Michigan, how would you go about this quarterback deal? Do you go with Alex Orji who can use his legs, make some stuff happen and be a problem, match up there? Or do you throw out Davis Warren who. Yeah, a little bit. Dink and Dunk and wasn't really moving the ball drastically. Yeah. But obviously they trust him more to throw the ball.

Jeff Ward: Yeah that's it. They're in a tough spot. I mean on one hand you would probably go with the guy can run it again. Like I said, you want the best running game you can to keep Quinn Ewers off the field so that if you really set your sight on, try to beat Texas, I'd stick my runner in there. That said, though, is that really what they're going to be 6 or 8 weeks from now? Because you're not going to beat everybody every week by running your quarterback 25 times. I mean, you're not going to live very long that way. So I just I think that they have to ask themselves, who is the guy that's going to be playing for this team in mid late October and November? What's the best chance to win in late October? November? And I'm not saying you sacrifice a game against Texas, but you're early in the year. You're playing for a playoff spot. What can you get to be a better passing team if you take your lumps right now? They're just gonna have to ask themselves. I mean, you keep switching guys, you keep switching up the offense. You become really, really predictable. 

Julian Martinez: Do we talk about kind of like the aura of stepping into the big house team? Yeah. I feel like this has to be, at least in my lifetime. I'm a young guy. Longhorns , relatively. You know, hitting 30. So you know walking out of my prime a little bit out. Yeah. Yeah. But with that said this feels like the biggest environment that they've stepped into in a long time. Like I can't think of too many other college football. 

Jeff Ward: One of the coolest stadiums in the entire country. 

Julian Martinez: Even Tuscaloosa, it doesn't feel as big as the big house.

Jeff Ward: This is, I've never been there. I mean, I've been to South Bend, which is spectacular. I played in Palo Alto, which is great. I played in Auburn, Alabama. I mean, you've got a lot of great stadiums, but this is arguably one of the top three, if not if not the coolest spot to play. 

Julian Martinez: it's on the bucket list. If you're a college football fan, that's one of those ones that you got to check out.

Jeff Ward: Absolutely. So and players love that stuff too. I mean, you know, this idea of, oh, you're playing on the road, it's a nightmare. 

Julian Martinez: Act like you've been there before, right?

Jeff Ward: Yeah, exactly. They've been around and getting to play in a place like this is really cool. And it's, you know, I don't I've never been there, so I don't know if the sound is like. But it's not going to be contained. Like a lot of places. This is a giant open air stadium.

Julian Martinez: Yeah. I hope that they don't get lost in the bright lights. It is a day game, so they won't have to look at any lights at all. 

Jeff Ward: If you get ost in bright lights now, you don't belong in that playoff in a few weeks. 

Julian Martinez: Absolutely not, absolutely not. I hope this game doesn't turn into. To that. But, like you said earlier, I think the key for them is just. You can't. You got to get ahead. You get ahead, then this Michigan team doesn't have the ability to dig themselves out of a large hole. So, yeah, if you could even even ten points, I feel like might be monumental for this Michigan team to overcome.

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