On the first day of 2025, the No. 3 Texas Longhorns earned a thrilling 39-31 victory over the No. 12 Arizona State Sun Devils in double overtime. The only thing is, the Longhorns came into that matchup as 12.5-point favorites, so being pushed to overtime wasn’t exactly impressive, despite the win. After seeing that performance from Texas in the Peach Bowl, Colin Cowherd worries for the Longhorns against No. 6 Ohio State.
Advertisement
The Buckeyes and Longhorns will face off in the Cotton Bowl Classic—which is serving as a College Football Playoff semifinal—on January 10. Texas’ boom or bust performances and lack of consistency and discipline are things that make Cowherd think they’re going to get “rolled by Ohio State” come next Friday.
“There’s a saying in Texas, all hat, no cattle. Sometimes Texas is all talent, no discipline… They’re a splash team, they average 10.7 yards a pass, that’s Texas. But I think they’re gonna get rolled by Ohio State, who’s playing with a level of defensive violence and offensive perfection that looks like a Sunday team.”
"Their saying all year has been 'All gas, no Brakes.' They need some brakes. They need to stop the car, pull over, go to a rest area and figure out what they are. That's not beating Ohio State."
— @ColinCowherd on Texas escaping past ASU pic.twitter.com/IcGP5xSxFg
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) January 2, 2025
He’s not wrong about Ohio State. Over the past couple of months, they beat Penn State, and they demolished No. 8 Indiana. They dog-walked No. 7 Tennessee in the first round of the CFP, then completely embarrassed No. 1 Oregon 41-21 in the Rose Bowl yesterday.
Texas, with all of its inconsistencies, is going to have problems stopping this Buckeyes freight train. Cowherd says they need to take a minute to collect themselves and stop relying on pure talent to get the job done.
“Their saying all year has been “All gas, no brakes”, they need some brakes. (Laughs) They need to stop the car, pull over, go to a rest area, wash off, and figure out what they are. Because that’s not beating Ohio State… In between these amazing plays by these amazing Texas Longhorn athletes, you can’t have 10 penalties, you can’t miss assignments. “
And, according to Cowherd, it’s not just this season. Texas has always been a bit of an enigma. They’re always one of the most talented and well-known teams and they’re always in the mix for the National Championship. But apart from Vince Young’s iconic 2005 campaign, they don’t have much hardware to speak of.
“Sometimes I just feel like, my entire life, this has been Texas football. I feel like they should be six-time National Champs, not, that one Vince Young team, and disappointment… They’re kind of an all or nothing team. Like, the report card is A+ and D. I’m never quite sure what I’m getting with Texas football… Texas, they should change their helmet to a big question mark, because I don’t know what I’m getting.”
The first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff will be down to four programs once No. 2 Georgia and No. 5 Notre Dame finish their matchup later this afternoon. No. 4 Penn State will then play the winner of that game. Meanwhile, the No. 6 Buckeyes and No. 3 Longhorns will lock horns in the other semifinal.
Say what you will about Colin Cowherd, but it seems like most people share his view of Texas in this situation. Despite being the higher-ranked team, Texas enters the game against Ohio State as a 6.0-point underdog.
