Having completed the 2022 season with an 8-4 record, the No. 21-ranked University of Texas (UT) Longhorns football team is assured a bowl appearance later this month.
Where, when and who they’ll play; however, remains to be seen, per a report from Austin NBC affiliate KXAN.
KXAN reported that UT could head down I-35 for the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio or venture out nearly 1,400 miles east to Orlando, Florida for the Cheez-It Bowl pending the outcomes of Saturday’s conference title showdowns.
According to the station, second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian will put his 2-2 bowl game mark on the line in his first postseason patrolling the sidelines for the Longhorns.
He said that the first few bowl practices will be approached as if it were spring practice or training camp.
“We’re going to get back to the basics on a lot of things, we’re going to reteach some fundamentals and techniques and some schemes to make sure everyone has a firm understanding and we can work with players to do that,” the 48-year-old Sarkisian said, KXAN reported. “Then the next half of practices will be dedicated to game planning.”
Per KXAN, Sarkisian and his program will be glued to the Big XII championship game between Texas Christian University (TCU) and Kansas State University (KSU), which will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
A result that would send UT to the Alamo Bowl would appear favorable to the Longhorns as they’ve won the game four times within the past decade, the report said.
In 2020, UT easily defeated the Colorado Buffaloes 55-23 behind a 183-yard, one-score performance from junior rusher Bijan Robinson.
UT capped its most recent campaign with a 38-27 win over Baylor on the day after Thanksgiving.
A program-issued press release said that Robinson and senior Roschon Johnson combined for 256 yards on the ground to edge out the Bears.
Robinson, who’s among a quartet of Longhorns selected to the All-Big XII first team on Thursday, grinded out 186 rushing yards, per the release.