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00:00 Hey Longhorns Country, I am Alexandra Cox and we have Longhorns Country publisher Matt Galatzin with us today. Hey Matt.
00:08 Hey, how's it going? And we are talking all things Sugar Bowl. Hard to believe it is two days away.
00:14 So let's get going. The first thing I want to mention is the fact that the second-ranked Washington Huskies are playing the third-ranked Texas Longhorns in New Orleans on Monday.
00:27 And you know, it's kind of funny. These two teams played each other last year and it was not the outcome that the Longhorns wanted.
00:34 But now with the stakes much higher, Texas can get their revenge.
00:39 But the first thing I want to mention is the fact that this Texas team has had a complete 180 turnaround.
00:47 Two years ago, they did not make a bowl game and here they are.
00:50 Matt, can you talk about what went into this facelift of the Texas program?
00:57 I think the first thing you have to mention is the culture change that Steve Sarkisian brought into the program.
01:04 It took a little while. Obviously, you know, everybody saw what happened that first season.
01:09 There were some players in the program that hit the transfer portal, some more players that were brought in via the transfer portal.
01:16 And then they started recruiting the right guys. They started developing them with their new coaching staff.
01:23 And Steve Sarkisian has just done a really good job of connecting with his players.
01:30 They trust him implicitly with everything. They know he's going to put them in the best position to win.
01:36 And he trusts his players the same way.
01:38 I think that once he got them to buy in towards really, I think, around the middle part of last year, maybe a little earlier,
01:47 when really when Alabama came to town, they saw they could kind of compete with the big dogs.
01:52 And even though they lost that game, you could kind of see that, OK, they're starting to buy in.
01:57 And then by the end of the season, even though there is some struggles here and there, you know, they were really bought in.
02:03 And then they made some other, you know, big moves this past offseason when they got Adonai Mitchell and everything just sort of fell into place.
02:13 Guys took the next step and now they're reaping the benefits.
02:17 And I think that Quinn Ewers talked about it earlier this week.
02:22 The bowl practice last season ahead of the Alamo Bowl against Washington is when he really turned a corner.
02:32 And I think that when he turned that corner, everybody else kind of started to follow him as well.
02:36 And he's sort of become the leader of the team.
02:39 And they kind of go how he goes.
02:41 And he's such a levelheaded, you know, little guy that it just kind of everything is just kind of meshed together very well.
02:49 And I think the combination of him and Sark together and what they've done to the locker room and everything else is just it's it's been really impressive to watch.
02:59 Speaking of Quinn Ewers, I think it has been a well, you know, he battled injury, but what a comeback for him.
03:07 I mean, he had a massive season. I think he threw for 450 plus yards in the Big 12 championship game.
03:15 Can you talk about how he has progressed and how him getting better and more accurate has helped this Texas offense?
03:24 Well, last season, last season, Quinn was very inconsistent. He looked like kind of deer in headlights, as I wrote the other day.
03:31 And. Over the course of that bowl practice leading up to Washington, like you mentioned, he kind of started to turn a corner and he started making quicker decisions and he started, you know, just being more purposeful with the football, more accurate with the football and staying poised.
03:47 And that carried over into the summer. And then he was sort of thrust into a leadership position with the exit of B.J. Robinson and Roshon Johnson.
03:56 And he really embraced it and he really rolled with it. And everybody kind of followed suit.
04:02 And this season, he's just kind of continue to continue that. I mean, last year he was completing, I think, 56 percent of his passes.
04:10 He had something, you know, some very meager touchdown interception numbers like I can't remember off the top of my head, something like 10 touchdowns, 11 touchdowns, something like that.
04:19 And then this season he's completing 70 percent of his passes. He's going for 21 touchdowns and six interceptions, two of which came in one game.
04:27 So, you know, and that's all without those two games against BYU and Kansas State, where Malik Murphy came in and he was throwing the football all over the yard.
04:37 So had he played in those games, his numbers might be something that wouldn't be what Michael Penix Jr.'s numbers are right now, but they'd be pretty dang close.
04:45 I think I did the math. And, you know, over those 10 games that he did play, he was throwing for something like 296 yards a game, which would have put him into the top 10 or 15 in the country.
05:00 So it's really been a massive change. And I think if Texas is fortunate enough to get him back next season, maybe when we see an even bigger jump, which would really be something, and he could be a top five draft consideration in 2024.
05:15 But that's a long way down the road. So, yeah, I mean, he's just he's improved in every little facet of the game.
05:22 And he's become a household name. He's arguably the best quarterback in the college football playoff.
05:28 I'm not trying to take anything away from Michael Penix Jr., but Quinn has all the tools and, you know, it's going to be something to watch on Monday.
05:37 So, like you mentioned, his counterpart is the Heisman Trophy runner up in Michael Penix Jr. Can you speak on what is going to have to happen to stop Penix, especially because he also had a really big season this season coming off of last year?
05:54 You know, his deep ball accuracy and his downright athleticism. But what will Texas need to do to stop him in those great receivers?
06:04 Well, if I knew the answer to that question, I'd be the Texas defensive coordinator.
06:08 But I think there's a couple of things you have to look at. They make it really hard, first of all.
06:14 Traditionally, the way to affect a quarterback is to get after him and pressure him and force him off platform and make him make mistakes.
06:23 It's really hard to get Penix to do that. They Washington doesn't give up any sacks.
06:27 You know, I think they ranked 11th in the country and sacks surrendered this season or maybe even better.
06:34 I think that maybe it was top 10 in the country and they only gave up 11 sacks. I might have that flip flop.
06:38 Either way, they don't let Penix get hit. And that's a huge problem because if you let him sit back there and dice you up, you know, you're toast.
06:47 As they've shown all season, he leads the nation in yards per game passing and all of those prolific sats.
06:54 He's got one of the best receiver core receiver cores in the country.
06:57 So I think that if you can't get pressure in your Texas, you have to try to find ways and confuse him in your coverage, which to be fair, Pete Kwiatkowski, the Texas defensive coordinator, knows a little bit about Pac-12 football.
07:15 He knows a lot about the Washington program, having come there himself from there himself.
07:20 And I think that he's going to have a few things dialed up. Maybe it's, you know, some tricks and coverage or, you know, pressure off the edge from the secondary, something that will that they'll try to put Penix in a situation where he has to sort of improvise and do things that he's not comfortable doing.
07:41 And there's not a whole lot of ways to do that, obviously. I think Jadai Barron is going to play a huge role in that. Texas is slot corner. He is all over the field.
07:51 He'll play in man coverage, he'll play in zone, he'll come off the edge and rush to pass her, he'll help and run. But I don't know. We'll just have to see.
07:59 I think that he's probably going to be the key to whatever the Longhorns do with Penix. So we'll just have to kind of see what happens.
08:08 It's kind of funny because these two teams have a lot more in common than people think, both of which obviously had the big transition from, you know, middle tier tier teams to college football playoff within two years.
08:24 Both head coaches are great offensive mind coaches and they both have great wide receivers, as we mentioned before. What do you think are some key parts that really set Texas apart from the Huskies?
08:38 Well, like you said, they're remarkably similar teams. Both of them struggle in pass protection, or not pass protection, I'm sorry, pass defense. But they also force a lot of turnovers in pass defense.
08:52 Both of them have elite wide receiver quarters. Both of them have elite passing games, elite running backs, elite offensive lines. I mean, you go down the list and it's like, how are these two teams different?
09:03 I think the biggest difference is the Texas Bronx Seven being able to stop the run. Because if you make a team one dimensional, even if you have Michael Penix Jr., it's going to make things a lot more difficult.
09:17 So if Texas can stop the run like they have all year, they did it against the best running back in the country in Ollie Gordon. They did it against Texas Tech as well, who was one of the best rushing teams in college football.
09:30 They did it against Alabama. They did it against everybody. And Tavondre Sweat obviously played a big role in that. Byron Murphy played a big role in that. But it's really the whole collective front seven.
09:41 And if they can stop the Washington running attack, which doesn't rank very highly statistically in terms of total yards on the ground, but is one of the more effective attacks when they choose to use it, then I think it's really going to make a big difference in the game.
09:57 If they do that, I think Texas wins in every category on Monday. Whether that reflects the scoreboard is another question entirely, but if they can do that, that'll be their biggest advantage.
10:16 And lastly, can we get a score prediction from you?
10:21 I've been going back and forth on this all month, really. And at first, I was kind of just given everything Texas has been through over the last 15 years or so.
10:40 And I did this with Alabama earlier in the year, too. I just didn't think they were going to be able to get it done. But then after kind of rethinking it and going back and watching some of the games over the last couple weeks to try to get a better feel for some little things here and there,
10:58 I think Texas is the better team, from top to bottom. Washington has an advantage here or there, but I really think that Texas is not just the best team on the field Monday night, I think they're the best team in the college football playoff.
11:12 So I'd love to be a little bit more objective and diplomatic about it or whatever you want to say, but I think Texas wins by 10 points. It's going to be high scoring, so let's say 45 to 35.
11:29 I think Quinn Ewers throws for two or three touchdowns. I think either Cedric Baxter or Jaden Blue gets in the end zone on another run. And maybe Jatavion Sanders gets one, too. I don't know yet. Maybe Devondre Sweat scores again.
11:48 I think it's going to be really high scoring, and I think it's going to come down to which quarterback takes care of the ball better and which group of receivers helps that quarterback the most, and I think that's going to be Texas.
12:02 Little known, not little known, it's actually highly, you know, it's been all over the place, but in case people have forgotten, Adonai Mitchell has played in four playoff games already with Georgia, and he has a touchdown catch in every single one of those games.
12:17 So maybe he'll continue that streak on Monday, we'll see, but I got Texas by 10.
12:23 MVP? Ewers?
12:26 I'm going to say Ewers.
12:28 Okay. And if Washington wins, Pinnocks?
12:33 If Washington wins, I mean the easy answer is always the quarterback. I would say so, yeah.
12:41 All right, well, your Longhorns play on Monday at 745 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against the Washington Huskies. Thanks Longhorns country.
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