What can we expect to learn about Texas in this game? We expect Texas to win and might deactivate all social media if they don’t win. We expect Bijan Robinson to look like everything we’ve seen in the last two years and throughout training camp. Freshman that have been impressing in camp like Savion Red and Jaydon Blue might even pop off a big play. Texas fans could be ready to put Quinn Ewers in New York as this should be his cleanest game of the year. This ULM team isn’t as good as Louisiana-Lafayette last year. This Texas defense held them to their worst scoring game of the year and was also the Ragin Cajuns only loss last year. Texas vs ULM should be no different of a result.
Texas Offense vs ULM
There are a lot of freshmen and sophomores Texas is depending on this year. Quinn Ewers is the guy Steve Sarkisian is rolling with during the 2022 season. This will be his first meaningful action since the 2020 Texas State Championship game while at Southlake Carroll High School. As we all know he was a Junior during that football season. We should expect Quinn to look very good in the opener. The mental mistakes Sarkisian expressed concern for have been less and less frequent since being named the starting quarterback.
Running Backs and Returning Receivers
With Roschon Johnson out, we shouldn’t expect Bijan Robinson to do more but for Keilan Robinson and Jonathon Brooks to be the ones who pick up some extra production in his absence. Keilan was great in his chances and will get his opportunity to do more last year he had 45 carries, 322 yards, and 3 touchdowns. He was also good for the passing game with 7 catches for 57 yards. Jonathon Brooks also had a good yards per carry average of 6.8 yards. He had 21 carries for 143 yards. Bijan Robinson will have his stat game, we know he won’t play down to the competition. With the receiver group, only Xavier Worthy and Jordan Whittington are the only major contributors to return.
Transfers and New Pieces
Cade Brewer is off to the NFL. Marcus Washington, Joshua Moore, and Jared Wiley have transferred. But additions like Tarique Milton, Brenan Thompson, Savion Red, Jahleel Billingsley, and potentially a currently suspended Agiye Hall. Steve Sarkisian has recently said he’s making the right steps to return to the team. Previous recruiting class guys such as Troy Omeire, Juan Davis, and Ja’Tavion Sanders are stepping up in camp. The offensive line with Junior Angilau out for the year will be very young with Christian Jones being the only guy who may see significant playing time who isn’t a freshman or sophomore.
As a team the 2021 Texas offense scored 35.3 points per game. For the Texas vs ULM game, we can probably expect for Texas to exceed that number. It would be good for Texas to also be on the better end of their -3 turnover ratio.
Louisiana-Monroe Defense
For Louisiana-Monroe, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th leading tacklers are returning. Linebacker Zack Woodard has the most sacks for returning players with 3.5 last year. Leading tackler Traveion Webster and sacker Ty Shelby are gone. Turnovers should go Texas’ way as no one returning had more than 1 interception in the 2021 season. Another reason to expect a big day offensively, The ULM defense gave up 33.5 points per game last year. Texas vs ULM should produce a win as Texas offense that’s figuring things out will just be too skilled for a ULM defense that wasn’t too good last year and trying to figure out how to replace secondary and defensive line production as well.
Texas Defense vs ULM
Electric returner D’Shawn Jamison is having the best camp of his Texas career as a cornerback. It’ll be exciting to see if his camp can turn into regular season production and can piece together a 3-5 interception season. He had a career-high of 3 in the 2019 season. Like with Roschon offensively, the slot corner Jahdae Barron will be a huge hole for Texas to fill. Though he’s expected back early in the season as well, some pieces will need to step up. Kitan Crawford has been looking good throughout training camp. Ohio State transfer Ryan Watts has been a huge addition to the Texas secondary. 2021 starter Anthony Cook, 2022 freshmen Terrance Brooks, and B.J. Allen Jr. have had good camps and can be contributors in Barron’s absence. Texas will need someone to step up in the secondary with 2021 interception leader B.J. Foster having transferred to Sam Houston State University.
Linebackers and Defensive Line
While linebacker depth is a problem. The emergence of Jaylan Ford and Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey has the coaching staff seeing what ways they can take advantage of DeMarvion Overshown’s versatility. Byron Murphy has been reported to be the best defensive lineman so far in camp. Vernon Broughton has also been talked about positively in his growth this offseason. For Texas to reach its goals some older guys will have to break out this year. Alfred Collins, Keondre Coburn, and T’Vondre Sweat have been disappointing but described as having big potential. Year two within a system could be what they all need.
As coach Pete Kwiatkowski put it “what pass rush” should we expect from Texas in 2022? The 2021 leader in sacks Ben Davis wasn’t a factor for a struggling defense last year. A defense that saw leads against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Baylor disappear because no one could make plays. It all goes together, this team had 20 sacks and 7 interceptions last year. Sacks come from good secondary play, good secondary play comes from a firey pass rush. Those two things lead to the 97th-ranked scoring defense giving up 31.1 points per game.
Louisiana-Monroe Offense
Offensively for ULM, they return Chandler Rodgers at quarterback. He threw for 1,311 yards on a 62.2 completion percentage, and a 137.3 quarterback rating. The two biggest contributors to the ULM running game are returning this season. Andrew Henry had 131 carries for 485 yards and Malik Jackson had 80 carries for 451 yards. 3 of the top 4 receiver targets are returning to the Warhawks this year. Though Boogie Knight is the only receiver to have over 500 yards last year. He had 45 receptions for 588 yards in 2021. Will Derrick and Zach Jackson each had 25 receptions for 353 yards and 301 yards, respectively.
Texas Final First Game Expectations
With the first-string guys, we should expect Texas to look too big, too strong, too fast, and too explosive for the ULM team. The second team may not be as successful but it’ll be mostly the same and Texas should run away. The kicking and punting game shouldn’t be a huge factor this week. I expect there to be an opening game buzz on Saturday night. A reasonable expectation for this Texas vs ULM game is a big win. But with youth and inexperience, this won’t be the 2020 UTEP opener. It may not be the win Texas fans want if you’re expecting Texas to cover the spread. I think they fall short of that, but win big. Under the DKR lights, Texas wins 51-21 in the opener.
https://texas-talk.com/2022/08/06/quinn-ewers-will-be-the-texas-starting-quarterback-here-is-why/
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