The Texas Longhorns are drawing plenty of attention ahead of the 2025 season, and for good reason. With Quinn Ewers off to the NFL Draft, all eyes are now on sophomore quarterback Arch Manning as he steps into the spotlight to lead the offense.
The Longhorns have hired former Chicago Bears quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph to help mold Manning into a star. With Steve Sarkisian at the helm and a strong supporting cast, Texas is shaping up to be a serious contender heading into the 2025 season.
Case McCoy Has High Hopes for Steve Sarkisian’s Texas
A former Longhorns great sees shades of the early 2000s in this Texas squad. On the “3rd & Longhorn” show, Case McCoy praised the team’s bolstered roster and predicted a new era for the program with Arch Manning leading the charge.
“And now, we’re winning enough games in that stage to where people want to be a part of it. We saw it in the early 2000s at Texas, if you win games and then you put it in Austin, Texas, at this university, that’s dangerous. That’s dangerous,” McCoy said.
.@CaseMcCoy6: On what @CoachSark is building in Austin and why @TexasFootball and this offense with @ArchManning is a No-Brainer for Recruits pic.twitter.com/xrRg5kCc31
— 3rd & Longhorn (@3rdandlonghorn) March 13, 2025
“And so I’m excited to see him continue just to compound what we’ve done in the last couple years. I think he’s got the athletes and he’s kind of got this quote-unquote new era with Arch and it’s Arch’s team,” he added.
With back-to-back dominant seasons, the Longhorns have reestablished themselves as a powerhouse. They posted a stellar 24-2 regular-season record, captured a Big 12 title, reached the SEC Championship in their debut year, and made consecutive College Football Playoff semifinal appearances.
McCoy believes this resurgence has made Austin one of the most coveted destinations in college football.
“And what does that look like? And what does that offense look like? And how do we build around it? But if I’m a student and I’m looking at my schools, I don’t know. I’d want to be a part of that. I want to go catch balls from Arch. I want to go play in that offense. If you’re a receiver, you’re running,” he stated.
CFB Analyst Explains the Reason Behind the Hatred for the Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns have long been a polarizing force in college football, and the animosity toward the program extends far beyond just their biggest rivals, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The infamous “Horns Down” gesture has become a nationwide trend, symbolizing the growing disdain for Texas among fanbases across the country.
CBS Sports reporter Josh Pate took a deep dive into the origins of this widespread animosity, attempting to explain why Texas has become one of the most polarizing programs in college football.
“When a Texas fan says, ‘they hate us ’cause they ain’t us,’ the Texas fan is half-right, there,” Pate said on his college football show on Sunday. “They do hate you. They despise you on a cellular level. I’m not always sure it’s because they ain’t you. Some of these folks hate you and would never want to trade places with you.”
I have Texas as the most hated team in College Football right now pic.twitter.com/pL1gfQaRDz
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) March 9, 2025
Pate took his investigation on the road, meeting with various fanbases to get their unfiltered take on the disdain for Texas.
“It’s not always that they hate you because they can’t be you; sometimes it’s just that they hate you. And that is very, very evident across the country; no one’s indifferent on Texas, and that’s before they’ve won a national championship,” Pate said. “You should always long to be hated. If they don’t hate you, you’re irrelevant.”
KEEP READING: JD Pickell Claims Arch Manning’s Hype Could Give Texas a Championship Edge
Love them or hate them, the Longhorns are impossible to ignore. Their resurgence in recent years has only intensified the conversation as they charge into the 2025 season.
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