Battle-tested Longhorns set for Texas Tech showdown

In their first three games on the 2022 season, the Texas Longhorns have faced some tough moments. In those tense times, what a team is really made of shines through.

"I go back to this game Saturday," said Longhorns Head Coach Steve Sarkisian. "To be down 17-7, nobody blinked. Nobody said 'Here we go again.' I think a year ago we may have. I don't want to say for sure but we may have. We just stayed the course."

Texas fought back from the 17-7 deficit against UTSA to win 41-20. The week before brought the showdown with No. 1 Alabama which went down to the wire. Having to deal with adversity and struggles is something the Longhorns now appreciate.

"As a team, you need to face certain moments like that just to realize who you are and what you can do," said Longhorns Senior Running Back Roschon Johnson. "So I mean just to be put in a situation where you're down in the first half and momentum just doesn't seem to be going your way and you finally regroup and get back together and start playing football...It's good to just see that we can come together as a collective to get that done."

Now comes a pivotal point in the season for Texas. Last year they won just a single game away from the 40 acres. Heading to Lubbock for the conference opener against Texas Tech is inevitably another situation where similar tough moments will come up and being battle tested pays off.

"You know it's setting us up for Big 12 play," said Longhorns Senior Defensive Back Anthony Cook. "I feel like we needed that adversity, and all that adversity that we encountered up to this point because now it's the real thing."

"We [are] built for this," added Longhorns Senior Defensive Lineman Keondre Coburn. "[Steve] Sarkisian and their staff put us in situations to be built for this. He told us before the [UTSA] game, it's going to be a point in time where there's going to be adversity."

The Longhorns kickoff in Lubbock at 2:30 p.m. against the Red Raiders. Texas Tech is 2-1 and coming off a loss on the road at No. 16 North Carolina State. Texas enters the game as a 6.5 point favorite, according to FOX Bet.