Texas’ talent level and statistical feats showcase a team that doesn't have many weaknesses to exploit, but what does ASU need to achieve to have a chance at a Peach Bowl upset? Let’s examine the Longhorns.
Texas Offense
Few teams in the country have had such a pair of prominent names at quarterback over the course of the 2024 season as has Texas, with a pair of former number one overall recruits seeing action in veteran Quinn Ewers and redshirt freshman Arch Manning.
Ewers, a Second-Team All-SEC pick this season who began his career at Ohio State before transferring back to his home state, has started all but two early-season games. On the year, he has completed 66.49% of his passes for 2,867 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Not much of a running threat, Ewers has a grand total of -65 net rushing yards this season with one touchdown.
Manning, of course, a member of the same family that produced the likes of Peyton and Eli Manning, started twice in place of Ewers in September and, on the year, has 939 passing yards with nine touchdowns and two interceptions, along with 100 net rushing yards and four touchdowns in nine total games played.
On the ground, Texas features a dynamic one-two punch consisting of Quintrevion Wisner and Jaydon Blue. This season, the duo has combined for more than 2,200 all-purpose yards and 18 touchdowns.
Wisner, a 6-foot, 200-pound, Third-Team All-SEC choice for 2024, has carried 191 times for 973 yards (5.1 avg.) with five touchdown runs along with 34 catches for 229 yards and a score.
Blue, also measuring 6-feet tall and 200 pounds, has added 126 carries for 710 yards (5.6 avg.) with eight scores along with 36 catches for 298 yards and four touchdowns.
In Texas’s College Football Playoff opening game against Clemson, both Wisner and Blue topped 100 rushing yards, and each had two rushing touchdowns in the game as well.
At wide receiver, Matthew Golden is the team’s top target as he leads the team with 787 receiving yards and eight touchdown catches and ranks second on the squad with 49 receptions.
The former Houston transfer had his first collegiate 100-yard receiving performance in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia when he had eight catches for 162 yards.
Former Alabama transfer Isaiah Bond has 33 catches for 532 yards with five scores and figures to be available for the Peach Bowl due to injury issues.
True freshman receiver Ryan Wingo has 25 catches for 417 yards with two touchdowns, while DeAndre Moore, Jr. has totaled 33 catches for 400 yards with six scores.
Texas’ top pass-catcher might be tight end Gunnar Helm, a second-team All-SEC selection this year with a team-high 55 receptions for 688 yards and six touchdowns. He has had at least five receptions on seven occasions this year.
The Longhorn offensive line is guided by one of the very best in the business, left tackle Kelvin Banks, Jr., the 2024 Outland Trophy winner, and a Unanimous All-American and First-Team All-SEC honoree.
Banks has been the typical starter at left tackle, with Hayden Conner usually at left guard, Jake Majors at center, DJ Campbell at right guard, and Cameron Williams at right tackle. Of the group, Banks, who also was the co-recipient of the SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy in 2024, is the only lineman to have received first, second, or third-team All-SEC recognition this season.
Texas Offense Summary
As it did in its opening Playoff game versus Clemson, Texas will want to pound the ball on the ground with its two-man running attack and, from there, use its high-pedigree quarterback to target the team’s talented receivers and star tight end.
Though ASU has had success against the run throughout the season and has had occasions of greatly limiting otherwise incredible running backs, the entire body of work for Texas’ offense will be a major challenge for Arizona State due to the pure mass of the offensive line and the next-level athletic abilities of the skill players.
Texas Defense
The typical starting defensive line consists of Barryn Sorrell at defensive tackle, Aldred Collins at nose tackle, with Vernon Broughton at the Jack position and Trey Moore at the edge.
Collins leads all Texas linemen with 47 tackles, including 5.5 for loss with 1.0 sacks, along with seven pass breakups, one quarterback hurry, one forced fumble, and one blocked kick. Sorrell has registered 38 tackles, including 10.5 for loss with 5.5 sacks, along with 12 quarterback hurries and one pass breakup.
Broughton has totaled 34 tackles, including 3.5 for loss with 3.0 sacks, along with five quarterback hurries, three fumble recoveries, two pass breakups, and one forced fumble. Moore, a former UTSA transfer, is credited with 30 tackles, including 8.0 for loss with 4.5 sacks, along with five quarterback hurries, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and one pass breakup.
Though he’s technically not a starter, Collin Simmons is considered by many to be the top true freshman in the country. He’s posted 39 tackles, including 13.0 for loss and 8.0 sacks, along with nine quarterback hurries, three forced fumbles, and one interception.
Former Sun Devil Jermayne Lole is in his seventh year at the college level, This season with the Longhorns, he’s totaled 30 tackles, including 3.0 for loss and three quarterback hurries.
Anthony Hill, Jr. is the typical MIKE linebacker, while David Gbenda and Liona Lefau have split starts over the course of the season at WILL linebacker.
Hill, a Second-Team All-SEC choice for 2024, leads the team with 99 tackles, including 16.0 for loss with 7.5 sacks along with four forced fumbles, four quarterback hurries, one interception, one fumble recovery, and one pass breakup.
Gbenda is third on the team with 56 tackles, including 5.0 for loss with 1.0 sacks, along with one forced fumble and one quarterback hurry, while Lefau has 51 tackles, including 5.0 for loss with 2.0 sacks, along with two quarterback hurries, one safety, one forced fumble and one interception.
At cornerback, Jaylon Guilbeau and Malik Muhammad are the typical starters, with Andrew Mukuba at free safety and Michael Taaffe at boundary safety.
At the Star position, Texas boasts the nation’s best defensive back for 2024 in Jim Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron, who has collected 50 tackles, including 2.0 for loss with 1.0 sack, along with five interceptions, 11 pass breakups, two quarterback hurries and one fumble recovery on the year. Barron was also named a Consensus All-American this season, as well as a First-Team All-SEC selection for 2024.
Guilbeau has 54 tackles on the year, including 4.0 for loss with 1.0 sacks along with three pass breakups; Muhammad has 31 tackles, including one for loss with six pass breakups; Mukuba, a Third-Team All-SEC selection this year, has 55 tackles including 4.0 for loss with four interceptions, six pass breakups with one quarterback hurry and one forced fumble, while Taaffe ranks second on the team with 63 tackles including 5.5 for loss with 2.0 sacks along with eight pass breakups, two interceptions, one quarterback hurry, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Texas Defense Summary
As of this moment, Texas ranks second nationally in scoring defense (13.3) and passing defense (156.9), illustrating how dominant the Longhorn defense has been throughout the season.
The Horns have pro-caliber talent at all levels of the defense, guided by Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron in the secondary.
Though ASU had passing success against Iowa State, the third-best pass defense in the country at this point, Texas's sheer athletic talent figures to make for a much rougher ride than what ASU faced in the Big-12 Championship Game weeks ago.
That said, ASU cannot afford to go fully one-dimensional and have star running back Cam Skattebo be the entire offense, so redshirt freshman Sam Leavitt will have to step way up to the challenge in what will undoubtedly be the toughest test he’s faced so far at the college level.
Texas Special Teams
In the kicking game, punter Michael Kern averages 40.53 yards on 32 punts, while placekicker Bert Auburn has connected on 15-of-22 field goal attempts (68.18%) with a long of 49. He has made all nine attempts inside 40 yards but is 6-of-13 from 40 and beyond this season.
Former Oregon State transfer Silas Bolden averages 8.42 yards on his 26 punt returns with a long of 55 yards, while receiver Matthew Golden averages 20.38 yards on 13 kickoff returns with a long of 31 yards.
Overall Summary
The last – and only other – time these two teams met on the gridiron, the results were not pretty for the Sun Devils when Arizona State was throttled by Texas in the 2007 Holiday Bowl by a score of 52-34.
Though times are different and the stakes are considerably higher, the oddsmakers still have ASU in the ballpark of about a two-touchdown underdog heading into this New Year’s Day affair.
This will likely be the toughest task to date for Arizona State under Kenny Dillingham, as the overall talent on the Texas roster likely exceeds that of Washington and Oregon last season, along with any opponent ASU has faced in 2024.
Texas, under head coach Steve Sarkisian, has now made the College Football Playoff in consecutive years, helping him to potentially shake the “Seven-win Sark” moniker he earned during his lackluster days coaching in the Pac-12 Conference at Washington and USC.
To achieve the upset, ASU will need to take calculated risks and force Texas into mistakes, while Sam Leavitt will have to play like a seventh-year senior and not a redshirt freshman against the second-best pass defense in the country.
That said, ASU has played the underdog role on more than one occasion this season and ended up being the team with its proverbial hand raised at the end of the bout. So, though the task is a very tough one for ASU, despite what the Las Vegas oddsmakers say, the Sun Devils should not be counted out in this one.
Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, run by the longest-tenured Sun Devil sports beat writer, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today and get your daily fix of Sun Devil news!
