BATON ROUGE, La. — Nick Saban said Saturday on ESPN’s College GameDay that he expects Texas to have better leadership this season than it had in 2025. The former Alabama coach made the comments from the show’s season-opening set on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, La., in a clip posted by the College GameDay account on X.
“Texas had a really young team a year ago,” Saban said. “I think this year’s team will be more mature, have better leadership, and be able to sustain the grind of the season.”
Saturday’s broadcast was GameDay’s 500th show on the road and its 15th from LSU. Rece Davis hosted, with Saban, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and Pat McAfee at the desk and country singer Lainey Wilson as the guest picker. Later Saturday, Lane Kiffin coaches his first game at LSU against Clemson at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
Texas hosts Texas State at 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. The Longhorns open the season No. 5 in the Associated Press poll and No. 4 in the coaches poll. The programs have met once, in 1930, when Texas won 36-0.
Texas Longhorns’ 2025 Season Under Steve Sarkisian
A year ago, Texas opened the season No. 1 in the AP poll and lost 14-7 at Ohio State in the opener. The Longhorns finished 10-3, missed the College Football Playoff, and beat Michigan 41-27 in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. They finished 12th in the final AP poll.
In his first season as the full-time starter, Arch Manning completed 248 of 404 passes for 3,163 yards with 26 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He ran for 399 yards and 10 touchdowns. Over the final eight games, he threw 15 touchdown passes with 2 interceptions. Manning had foot surgery in January and was limited during spring practice. On Aug. 24, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Manning had a great fall camp.
Sarkisian was Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2019 and 2020 before taking the Texas job in 2021. He is 48-20 in five seasons in Austin.
Even after its transfer portal additions, Texas went into fall camp with one of the youngest rosters in the country. Sarkisian addressed the roster’s age on Aug. 5.
“As much as we tried to get older as a team, we’re still relatively young,” Sarkisian said. “I think we’re like the fourth-youngest team in the country. It’s like crazy. I go to the portal, and I’m still young.”
Texas Longhorns’ Offseason Roster Changes
In January, Texas added wide receiver Cam Coleman from Auburn through the transfer portal. Coleman caught 93 passes for 1,306 yards and 13 touchdowns in two seasons with the Tigers. He joins Ryan Wingo, who led Texas with 54 catches for 834 yards and 7 touchdowns last season.
Running backs Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown also arrived through the portal after Quintrevion Wisner, CJ Baxter, and Jerrick Gibson transferred out. Will Muschamp returned as defensive coordinator. Cornerback Malik Muhammad and safety Michael Taaffe were selected in the NFL draft. On Friday, left tackle Trevor Goosby was cleared for the opener 17 days after a knee injury in camp.
On July 23, Saban named Georgia and Texas the two best teams in college football during an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up.
GameDay travels to Austin next Saturday for No. 1 Ohio State at Texas, a 6:30 p.m. CT kickoff on ABC. The show airs from 8 to 11 a.m. CT from the Texas campus. Ohio State beat Texas 14-7 in Columbus in last season’s opener and 28-14 in the College Football Playoff semifinal at AT&T Stadium in January 2025. Texas plays UTSA on Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. CT on SEC Network+ and opens SEC play at Tennessee on Sept. 26 at 11 a.m. CT.
