As the University of Texas enters its final year in the Big 12 conference before heading to the SEC, the Longhorns are hoping to bring home the program’s first conference championship since 2009.
The media appears to like the Longhorns’ chances.
A Texas Longhorn band member carries the Texas flag prior to the start of a game between the UTSA Roadrunners and the Texas Longhorns Sept. 17, 2022, at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. (John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Texas finished atop the Big 12’s preseason poll, voted on by media representatives, for the first time since the conference went to a format without divisions in 2011.
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The Longhorns received 41 of 67 first-place votes, with 2022 champion Kansas State receiving 14 votes.
Oklahoma, which will be joining Texas in the SEC starting in 2024, received four first-place votes along with Texas Tech. TCU and Oklahoma State earned the remaining first-place votes.
Texas is coming off an 8-5 season during which the Longhorns nearly upset No. 1 Alabama in Week 2.
Quinn Ewers of the Texas Longhorns throws a pass before a game against the Iowa State Cyclones at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Oct. 15, 2022, in Austin, Texas. (Tim Warner/Getty Images)
The Longhorns return starting quarterback Quinn Ewers and welcome prized recruit Arch Manning to campus.
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Head coach Steve Sarkisian praised Ewers following the Longhorns’ spring game in April.
“I thought Quinn was really efficient today,” Sarkisian said after the game, according to ESPN. “I think it’s pretty clear to say that Quinn’s our starting quarterback, and we feel very good about that.”
A stadium facade before a game between the UTSA Roadrunners and the Texas Longhorns Sept. 17, 2022, at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. (John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The offense returns nine starters from 2022 but loses running back Bijan Robinson, last season’s Doak Walker Award winner.
Texas opens the 2023 season against Rice before heading to Tuscaloosa to take on Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide in Week 2.
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The Big 12 officially welcomed four new schools July 1 as UCF, BYU, Cincinnati and Houston joined the conference.
Of the four newcomers, UCF was picked to finish the highest, coming in at eighth in the preseason poll.