The Texas Longhorns start the 2024 campaign in a few hours against Colorado State. The game should be a good warmup for the Week 2 Michigan game. But that doesn’t mean the entire game will be easy.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian will want the starters to get into a positive flow, get the backups some playing time, manage the heat and avoid injuries, while also looking impressive to the nation.
As we count down the hours until game time, here are our official Longhorns Wire staff predictions for Texas’ Week 1 matchup:
Colorado State Game info:
Trey Luerssen’s Prediction
Texas always seems to start slow. As good as the 2023 Longhorns were, they started slow against Rice. It took almost a full half to shake off the rust. Colorado State has some playmakers like WR Troy Horton that could nab the Rams an early big play and take a lead.
But by the third quarter, Texas should be cooking. And that’s not a joke about the heat. Ewers and the offense will come out of the locker room after halftime and put three TDs on the board and Texas will pull away from an ultimately overmatched Rams team.
Prediction:Â Texas 40, Colorado State 13
Jamie Gatlin’s Prediction
The Texas Longhorns will be looking to send a message in week one as they began their debut season in the SEC
After an offseason full of change their offense now features promising wide receivers in freshman Ryan Wingo and star transfer Matthew Golden. The talented duo have an ideal matchup in Colorado State who struggled to keep opponents off the scoreboard last year.
This game should be dominated by the Longhorns. The Rams do have some weapons such as Troy Horton but it will be hard for them keep pace with Texas.
Prediction: Texas 45, Colorado State 10
Ryan Kay’s Prediction
Colorado State is a better team than the national media is giving them credit for. The Rams should make a bowl game this season and finish in the top tier of the Mountain West Conference. That said, Texas should win this game by double digits, not necessarily by the number of over 30 points, as many predict that they will win by.
Even though Texas will not win this game by a final score of 50-7, the Longhorns are still a top-four team in college football this season. Texas plays Michigan on the road next week, so don’t expect the Longhorns to pull out the plays from the playbook to defeat the Rams by over 40 points.
This is not to say that the Longhorns will play conservatively on offense, defense, and special teams. But don’t expect trick plays and going for it on fourth down in their game against Colorado State.
Texas will win this game comfortably and back ups will get meaningful playing time in the fourth quarter.
Prediction: Texas 38, Colorado State 13
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This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Longhorns Wire staff predictions for Texas’ Week 1 game vs. Colorado State
