It's gameday! No. 4 Texas takes on Colorado State at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium
AUSTIN (KXAN) — It's finally time for some football at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium.
The Texas Longhorns, ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll, host the Colorado State Rams at 2:30 p.m. in the season opener for both teams.
Texas is a 32-point favorite headed into the game, but head coach Steve Sarkisian isn't taking the Rams lightly. Sure, they finished 5-7 and play in the Mountain West Conference, but head coach Jay Norvell has the program pointed in the right direction with the high-flying offense as the main reason.
Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, an Aledo native, is the quarterback and he's got a pair of weapons to throw to — Tory Horton and Armani Winfield. Horton is a returning first-team All-Mountain West Conference performer with more than 1,100 receiving yards last season while Winfield is an up-and-coming wideout whom Sarkisian recruited.
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Fowler-Nicolosi and Horton reportedly turned down NIL deals of $600,000 to stay in Fort Collins to play for the Rams. Fowler-Nicolosi threw for nearly 3,500 yards with 22 touchdowns last season, but he also threw 16 interceptions, so you have to take the bad with the good from him.
For the Longhorns, third-year starting quarterback Quinn Ewers will run an offense that's already faced adversity. Season-ending injuries to running backs CJ Baxter and Christian Clark have forced Sarkisian to move receiver Ryan Niblett to the backfield and hit the transfer portal to grab Velton Gardner, a graduate of Southern Methodist University.