Jeff Howe

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I love ball. One thing I love about Muschamp is that when he talks ball in a press conference setting, he won’t dumb it down for anybody.

You won’t find a bigger Muschamp fan than me. I would expect the front end of the defense and the back end to be tied together much better compared to last season. Way too many coverage busts and times where the pressure and the coverage didn’t mix, particularly late in the season.

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Not an ignorant question. The biggest discrepancy is the SOS rankings, both for overall and out of conference. D1's Nitty Gritty has Texas' non-conference SOS 30 spots lower than Warren Nolan. But I don't know if those directly impact the calculations or vice versa.

For those of you who want to know how half-line pass works in practice, I'm sorry for pulling an Ohio State example, but it's the best I could find on a quick YouTube search:

I don't know if the defensive practice plan Muschamp describes is something that Sark has done previously. With that said, it doesn't matter because he's doing it now. Sark has a pretty unique background in that he's an offensive play-caller who counts two elite defensive minds (Nick Saban and Pete Carroll) as mentors. They're Sark's two biggest football influences, so he knows what a defensive practice plan looks like. Muschamp's quote on the practice plan stuck with me. If nothing else, it reinforces why Muschamp was Sark's first choice to run the defense when he took the Texas job, not PK. It's disingenuous to say PK wasn't a good defensive coordinator. That's simply not true. Nevertheless, it's becoming clearer by the day that Muschamp and defensive minds from the Saban tree call games and value things that jibe more with who Sark is philosophically.

AUSTIN, Texas — Part of what endeared Will Muschamp to Texas football fans the way Mike Campbell and Leon Fuller did before him was his intensity and demand for physicality, which were traits his Longhorn defenses showed during his first stint as defensive coordinator. What Muschamp doesn’t get enough credit for is his attention to detail. Playing for Muschamp requires a razor-sharp focus, which bred discipline that helped Muschamp field championship-caliber defenses and change the football culture on the Forty Acres during his three seasons under Mack Brown (2008-10). Unlike his first tour of duty with the Longhorns, Muschamp’s return hasn’t tasked him with creating something from scratch. It’s more of a case of Muschamp helping Sarkisian clear a hurdle he’s reached along his climb to college football’s summit. Regardless, Muschamp’s impact in his second Texas tenure is being felt in how the Longhorns practice. The expected Muschamp hallmarks are evident (the “No Thud = No Play” mantra chief among them). Muschamp’s detailing of Steve Sarkisian’s defensive practice plan for spring ball during his media availability last Tuesday, however, revealed how Sarkisian is giving Muschamp the tools he needs to help Texas regain the physical edge it lacked at times in 2025. For starters, Muschamp is familiar with the way Texas practices because Sarkisian’s practice structure, he said, is similar to what he experienced while working under Nick Saban and Kirby Smart. From the day he took the job, Sarkisian has implemented a lot of what he learned from Saban during his time as an Alabama assistant coach (2016, 2019-20). Still, Sarkisian using practice periods to run through half-line pass drills, for example, is a sign that Muschamp is getting everything he needs to make his mark on the 2026 squad. “When you do half-line pass, that's really a great teaching tool for the defense,” Muschamp said. “I hear a lot of offensive coaches, like, 'I never want to do that.' We always did that with Coach Saban because it’s really to teach the principles of the coverage to the defensive players. We do that here. Coach Sarkisian loves it, but he knows that it helps us probably more than it really helps our offense. If (the play is) a full-field read for the quarterback, he's only reading half the field and sometimes there's some coverages that are going to kill any route over there.” That might not sound like a big deal. But, Sarkisian, who points out time and again that “you get what you emphasize" in practice, tailoring practice periods to Muschamp’s liking speaks to a coach who wants to maximize a shift in defensive philosophy capable of elevating the program to the elusive next rung on the championship ladder. Muschamp likes the physicality of Sarkisian’s practice. Beyond that, and perhaps more important to Texas getting back to the College Football Playoff, Sarkisian’s understanding that the defense needs live snaps to hone their craft has Muschamp excited about what the team has accomplished in spring practice. “On offense, you can go out and do routes on air and really improve and get the timing and get all that,” Muschamp said. “On defense, you have to key and diagnose. You have to see something, you have to respond to it the right way, have your eyes in the right spot and in order for us to get better, we've got to go against people.” View full news story

Hill's meeting with the Cowboys is scheduled for today, according to Clarence Hill:

It would've been nice if Texas had been able to play and salvage a game against the Aggies. Regardless, the Longhorns are in the mix to repeat as SEC champs at the halfway point:

D1Baseball's RPI has Texas No. 2 as well, behind only UCLA:

As of Monday, Warren Nolan has Texas as the No. 2 RPI team in the country:

Perfect Game also has the Longhorns ranked fourth nationally:

Baseball America has the Longhorns at No. 4:

D1Baseball's Mark Etheridge still has the Longhorns No. 1 in his SEC rankings:

The Longhorns dropped two spots to No. 4 in the D1Baseball.com Top 25:

I'll credit Kelvin Banks with an initial false start. He knew Golden and Quinn needed the extra five yards!

Three or four.

The game is canceled and won't be made up.

Yes.

Texas has secured the commitment of transfer forward David Punch, addressing one of its most significant roster needs for the 2026-27 season. Punch went public with his commitment Sunday night, posting the news on Instagram. A national top-100 recruit out of Harker Heights in the 2024 class, Punch joins the Longhorns after two seasons at TCU. As a sophomore, the 6-foot-7-inch, 245-pound Punch was an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection, averaging 14.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.3 steals per game. Punch gives Texas a presence at the power forward spot it lacked during its run to the Sweet 16 in Sean Miller’s first season. Along with his ability to keep the ball moving on offense, Punch should immediately help the Longhorns improve on the defensive end of the floor. Punch blocked 66 shots and recorded 45 steals in 34 games; Punch doubled Matas Vokietaitis’ team-leading 33 blocked shots this past season and only Dailyn Swain’s 59 steals topped Punch’s totals among Texas players. The addition of Punch and the return of Vokietaitis give the Longhorns two tremendous frontcourt pieces for Miller’s second season. Currently, with Swain making himself eligible for the 2026 NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility, Texas has four starting spots penciled in for next season: Punch, Vokietaitis, Colorado transfer guard Isaiah Johnson and McDonald’s All-American guard Austin Goosby. View full news story