Horns Pre-game Southeastern Showdown: Getting you ready for Texas-Alabama
Watch the 30-minute Horns Pre-game Southeastern Special in the video player above as KXAN Sports gets you ready for the biggest game this week in college football.
Watch the 30-minute Horns Pre-game Southeastern Showdown in the video player above as KXAN Sports gets you ready for the biggest game this week in college football.
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Texas Longhorns starting quarterback Quinn Ewers told reporters that he thinks the team is "ready to take the next step" and the KXAN Sports team has a full breakdown of what it will take for the 'Horns to accomplish that in our Southeastern Showdown Special.
No. 11 Texas will join the SEC and become an official conference rival of No. 4 Alabama in July 2024, but, first, the two programs conclude their home-and-home series as non-conference foes this Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
"Should be a great night of football, and I know that the key to the drill for us is to focus on what we need to do to prepare and get ourselves in the right frame of mind," UT head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday.
Members of the Longhorns Radio Network team gave their thoughts on the game and the atmosphere that Bryant-Denny Stadium will provide and how Texas will navigate the environment.
"They normally play these types of games in domes, neutral sites, in Arlington and Atlanta and stuff like that so this is special," longtime Longhorns play-by-play announcer Craig Way said.
Former Texas fullback Will Matthews provided insight into what winning a game like this can do for a team and program going forward, drawing from his experience his senior season when Texas beat Arkansas on the road in a wild atmosphere.
"That really catapulted us that season to be ready for such a game as we played in the Rose Bowl against Michigan because you have got a hard fight to the end to pull that one out and it builds the muscle to get you ready for a bigger game going forward," Matthews said.
The players on the current roster understand the magnitude of the matchup and want a taste of what Matthews experienced in 2004 when his team won the Rose Bowl.
"This is my last chance to go out there and accomplish what I've been working so hard for since the day I got here," senior linebacker Jaylan Ford said.