What to Expect When the Texas Longhorns face Michigan football

Michigan football fans have heard the song and dance from their critics for years, that they walk through a cupcake schedule to begin each year before going into conference play. That all changes September 7th, 2024, in the second week of their season. That's when Michigan welcomes the Texas Longhorns into Ann Arbor for what could be a season-defining matchup between two power schools.

What preseason rankings there are consistently have Texas in the top 10, if not the top 5 in the nation. It's a ranking that is no doubt earned. Their offense averaged 477 yards per game last year, mostly behind the arm of Quinn Ewers. As a sophomore, he threw for almost 3,500 yards and had 22 touchdowns against just six interceptions.

However, Ewers will be missing many of the weapons that made his offense so deadly last year. The departures include a 1,000-yard running back in Jonathon Brooks who was drafted by the Carolina Panthers and a 1,000-yard receiver in Xavier Worthy, taken by the Kansas City Chiefs.

To replace their receivers Texas did land Isaiah Bond, a transfer from Alabama that hauled in 48 catches for 668 yards for the Crimson Tide last year (but against Michigan in the Rose Bowl bond was limited to just 47 yards) and Matthew Golden from the Houston Cougars. Bond was the top-rated wide receiver transfer last year and folks in Austin think he is a perfect fit for Steve Sarkisian's offense. On the ground, CJ Baxter will attempt to fill in for Brooks. Baxter averaged a very solid 4.8 yards per carry last season and had five touchdowns.

If there is one area where the Wolverines are strongest it is, to no one's surprise, on defense. Will Johnson and the Wolverines' secondary can give the Longhorns' receivers fits and limit the damage Ewers can do through the air. And on the ground, Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant are going to give CJ Baxter all he can handle in terms of grinding out yards in the running game. But make no mistake, they will be severely tested, as Texas returns four starters along its offensive line, including first-team All-Big 12 junior left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. Though Ewers is talented, the skill positions around him are a level less explosive as they were last year, giving Michigan football an advantage there.

The real question for Michigan football is at quarterback

The question for Michigan, which will not be answered until the team takes the field and gets real game action under their belt, is how their starting quarterback will perform, whomever that may be. Thankfully for the eventual starter, Texas saw some of its most talented defensive players depart for the NFL as very high draft picks. That included T’Vondre Sweat who won the Outland Trophy, Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year Byron Murphy, and two-time first-team All-Big 12 middle linebacker Jaylan Ford. They have several strong players returning, and their biggest weakness is in their pass defense, which is the area on offense where the Wolverines have the most significant questions.

It's far too early to predict how this game will turn out. But some things are already crystal clear even in the offseason. First, Michigan football will be tested earlier in their season than at any point in recent memory. Though they have faced ranked non-conference opponents before, it has not been a frequent occurrence.

In 2019 it was a matchup against seventh-ranked Notre Dame but that was in late October. In 2018 they opened their season against the Irish, ranked number 11 at the time, but lost 24-17. In 2017 they beat then-17th-ranked Florida 33-17. This year's matchup against a likely top-5 Longhorns team in September seems to be bigger than nearly all of those games, especially given the fact of Michigan's National Championship just a few short months ago.

Win, lose, or draw, on September 8th we will all know a great deal more about the mettle of the 2024 Michigan team. There will be no more waiting until the Big Ten slate kicks off to know exactly where we stand because we will be going up against the best the SEC has to offer and doing it in September. In a race for the new 12-team playoff one game will not make or break a team's postseason dreams, but a win against an opponent with a Heisman-caliber quarterback will no doubt silence the numerous voices that have suddenly declared the Wolverines "one and done" in the hunt for another deep CFP run. And if it is a hard-fought loss, the team will have time to regroup, focus, and fix what might not be working before their next big test against USC on September 21.

Michigan football fans should welcome this kind of matchup this early in the season. It is a chance to play against a top-tier opponent in front of a national audience. The hype and pageantry should be epic, and a win would catapult this team back to the top of the college football world. Let the countdown begin.