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Texas' First Loss of 2025 College Football Season Predicted

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Grant Bricker | Last updated Jun 13, 2025 6:34 PM ET

The Texas Longhorns are 38-17 under head coach Steve Sarkisian since he took the job in 2021.

During that time, Sarkisian has taken Texas to one bowl game and appeared in the College Football Playoff twice. However, some are skeptical about Texas in 2025.

ESPN's Joe Fortenbaugh joined a recent episode of "Get Up" to discuss regular-season win totals for college football. He predicted Texas to lose its season opener against the Ohio State Buckeyes on August 30.

Ohio State ended Texas' season, handing the Longhorns a 28-14 loss in the semifinal of the playoff. The Buckeyes went on to win the national title.

"All we need are two losses," Fortenbaugh said. "I see them losing to Ohio State to open the season, and then as you work your way down, there are plenty of problems. Road game at Florida. Road game at Georgia. Fourth-toughest schedule in the nation. So yea, I think this is a team that's very overvalued."

Fortenbaugh even called Texas the most overvalued team in college football, referring to their 10.5 regular-season win total as reported by ESPN BET.

The roster in Austin is going to look quite different in 2025. Texas lost players like quarterback Quinn Ewers, offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., receiver Matthew Golden and defensive back Jahdae Barron to the 2025 NFL Draft.

Former No. 1 overall recruit from the 2023 class, Arch Manning, will finally get his shot to win the quarterback job for the Longhorns. He played in 10 games last season, with two starts.

Manning led his team to wins over UL Monroe and the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Rarely is Manning not the topic of conversation regarding Texas. That was the case with Heisman sleeper predictions by college football analyst Michael Bratton. He picked running back Tre Wisner as a sleeper for the award.

Texas and Ohio State have played each other four times, with the series split evenly at 2-2. The Longhorns have a chance for revenge on August 30 at noon ET on Fox.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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