Frankie’s Forensics: Players to watch, keys to the game against Texas

We have finally made it. As Tom Petty would say, “The waiting is the hardest part.” But now, the wait is over.

Saturday afternoon, No. 3 Ohio State hosts No. 1 Texas in one of the most anticipated regular-season games in recent college football history and, arguably, the biggest season-opener in college football history.

When you have these two programs, which both have so much history, facing off in Week 1 at a historic venue in Ohio Stadium, that adds to what’s already an elite matchup. It’d still be highly anticipated if it were a neutral-site game, but the fact that it’s a true home game for Ohio State adds a sizzling spice to this showdown.

Both Ohio State and Texas have vastly different rosters this season. Even though the Buckeyes have Jeremiah Smith, Caleb Downs, and Sonny Styles returning, there are a lot of new faces replacing key players from last year’s national championship team.

Texas may have Arch Manning now fully entrenched as its starting quarterback, but they have to replace production at wide receiver and running back, among other positions. Manning, for obvious reasons, is getting most of the attention going into this matchup, but there are other players on the Longhorns worth watching for in this heavyweight matchup Saturday afternoon.

Let’s look at those other four key players to watch on the Longhorns, and then get into keys to the game for the Buckeyes with a score prediction to conclude.

Quarterback: Arch Manning

The nephew of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning and two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, Arch Manning has as much hype surrounding him as any quarterback or any player has had in recent memory.

Heading into his third season, Manning has appeared in 12 games with two starts. In those two starts, he’s 2-0. He made his first start against Louisiana-Monroe, throwing for 258 yards and two touchdowns.

Manning’s first SEC start came against Mississippi State the following week, and he threw for 325 yards and two touchdowns. In addition to throwing for a career-high 325 yards, Manning also set career highs with 26 completions and an 83.9 completion percentage.

Manning’s first appearance in 2024 came for an injured Quinn Ewers against UTSA in Week 2. He completed nine of 12 passes for 223 yards and four touchdowns, including five total touchdowns. According to OptaStats, Manning is the only FBS or NFL quarterback in the last 25 years to record a 75+ yard touchdown pass, a 65-yard rushing touchdown, and another 50+ yard touchdown in the same game.

Okay, so the hype is real. But teams, including the Buckeyes, have had a full offseason to study his performances and design game plans to stop him. Matt Patricia is a veteran defensive coordinator, primarily with the New England Patriots.

What Patricia’s game plan will look like for Saturday afternoon in how the Buckeyes’ defense handles Manning will go a long way towards deciding this game.

Four Players to Watch on Texas

1. DeAndre Moore Jr. (WR)

With Matthew Golden and Isaiah Bond gone, DeAndre Moore Jr. is now Texas’s leading returning receiver this season. Moore is coming off a 2024 season where he hauled in 39 receptions for 456 yards and seven touchdowns.

Moore had four receptions for 31 yards in the College Football Playoff Semifinal against Ohio State this past January. He had a touchdown in Texas’s Quarterfinal win against Arizona State, and Moore’s best game was against Georgia in the SEC Championship, when he had nine receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown.

In high school, Moore was part of the 2022 St. John Bosco team that was named national champions by MaxPreps.

2. Quintrevion Wisner (RB)

A Third-Team All-SEC member in 2024, Wisner led the Longhorns with 1,064 rushing yards while rushing for five touchdowns on 226 carries. Not only that, but Wisner was the Longhorns’ third-leading receiver with 44 receptions on 311 yards and one touchdown.

Wisner’s best performance in 2024 was a 33-carry, 186-yard game at Texas A&M in the regular-season finale that clinched Texas a berth in the SEC Championship Game.

Wisner had four 100-yard rushing games in 2024, including against Clemson in the First Round of the College Football Playoff. Against Ohio State in the Semifinals, Wisner rushed for 46 yards on 17 carries and caught six passes for 42 yards.

3. Colin Simmons (EDGE)

Last year’s Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year winner, Simmons, earned Freshman All-American honors from ESPN, FWAA, PFF, and The Athletic. Simmons led the Longhorns with nine sacks and was second with 14 tackles for loss.

Rivals and ESPN both ranked Simmons in the top 10 overall players, with Rivals ranking him the No. 1 edge rusher in the country. Those rankings have proven justified after a standout Freshman season from Simmons. He had two sacks twice last season and had three tackles for loss in Texas’s first-ever SEC conference game against Mississippi State.

Simmons has four tackles and two pass breakups against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.

Heading into this season, Simmons is on four Preseason watch lists and has already earned First-Team All-SEC honors.

4. Anthony Hill Jr. (LB)

A member of five Preseason Watch Lists, including the Chuck Bednarik Award, Hill is coming off a 2024 season where he was named a Second-Team All-American and a Semifinalist for the Bednarik and Dick Butkus awards. Hill led the Longhorns with 103 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, and four forced fumbles while also ranking third on the team with eight sacks.

With 30 games and 22 career starts, Hill was named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry. Hill had 11 tackles (seven solo) with two sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss, and one forced fumble. He had six tackles and a half tackle for loss and half a sack against Ohio State this past January.

What Hill did last season shouldn’t be a surprise. In 2023, Hill was the Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year and a Freshman All-American after a season where he had 66 tackles, eight tackles for loss, five sacks, and a forced fumble.

Head Coach: Steve Sarkisian (5th Season, 38-17)

He may be one of the most polarizing head coaches in college football with controversy in his past, but Sarkisian deserves a lot of credit for bringing Texas back to the national forefront of the sport.

In his first four seasons, the Longhorns have played in the College Football Playoff twice and have also played for a conference championship in each of the last two seasons. He was the Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2020, won the Broyles Award in 2020 for the nation’s best assistant coach, and was the recipient of the Sammy Baugh Trophy in 1996 as the best collegiate passer at BYU.

Texas is the only team in college football to play in the CFP in each of the last two seasons, and the Longhorns have had a top-five final ranking in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2008 and 2009.

Talent has never been an issue for Sarkisian at Texas. The Longhorns had 12 NFL Draft picks this past Spring, and their 23 draft picks, including five first-round picks, over the last two seasons are both the most for any program in the country.

Prior to Texas, Sarkisian was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Alabama. The Crimson Tide scored 35+ points in 24 straight games to set a major college football record, en route to winning the 2020 National Championship.

Sarkisian has also been the head coach at USC and Washington for a combined six+ seasons. He starred at BYU as a quarterback, leading the Cougars to a win in the 1997 Cotton Bowl and earning Second-Team All-American honors.

Offensive Coordinator: Kyle Flood (5th Season)

Flood has been with Sarkisian since 2017, and he brings experience as an offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and head coach. In addition to reinvigorating Texas’s offense to become one of the best in the country over the last four seasons, Flood has also been Texas’s offensive line coach.

Texas’s offensive line in 2024 included first-round draft pick Kelvin Banks Jr, and they paved the way for Quinn Ewers to finish in the top 20 in the country in several passing categories. The Longhorns also averaged 4.3 yards per carry and 26 touchdowns while totaling over 2,500 rushing yards.

Prior to Texas, Flood led the Crimson Tide offensive line to the Joe Moore Award as the nation’s top unit in 2020. He was Alabama’s offensive line coach for two seasons after spending two seasons as an assistant offensive line coach with the Atlanta Falcons.

At Rutgers for 11 seasons, Flood was the head coach from 2012 to 2015 with a 27-24 record. He was the 2012 Big East Coach of the Year, and he helped Rutgers make the transition from the Big East to the Big Ten.

Defensive Coordinator: Pete Kwiatkowski (5th Season)

Kwiatkowski is celebrating his 59th birthday today, and he has been with Sarkisian for his entire tenure at Texas.

In 2024, the Longhorns’ defense ranked third in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 15.3 points per game. Four players earned All-American honors, including Jim Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron as the nation’s top defensive back.

Edge rusher Colin Simmons won the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year award. In addition, five Longhorns were selected in the NFL Draft this past April.

Prior to Texas, Kwiatkowski was the defensive coordinator at Washington for seven seasons and helped the Huskies get to the College Football Playoff in 2016, while leading them to two Pac-12 Championships. He was the defensive coordinator at Boise State from 2010-2013 after four seasons as their defensive line coach.

Kwiatkowski played at Boise State from 1984-1987, earning NCAA Division I-AA All-American honors in 1987. As a coach, Boise State won the Fiesta Bowl twice when Kwiatkowski was their defensive line coach.

Keys to the Game

1. Generate momentum in the running game

This is essential to Julian Sayin as he makes his first career start. The Buckeyes need to take some of the burden off him by being able to run the football. Even with Treveyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins gone, the Buckeyes need to unleash their new running back tandem of James Peoples and C.J. Donaldson.

Running the football will keep Texas’s defense on its toes, and it could wear them down as the game goes on.

2. Set the edge… on both sides of the ball

Colin Simmons is a game wrecker for Texas. Austin Siereveld and Phillip Daniels are going to need to prevent him from doing that by not letting him get around them on the edge.

On the other side, I’m watching Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Caden Curry as they look to establish an advantage on the edge against Texas’s new-look offensive line.

The edges are going to go a long way towards deciding this game.

3. Limit the turnovers

This is a cliché key, but it cannot be overstated. Just as the Buckeyes won the turnover battle 2-1 in the Cotton Bowl, the team that wins the turnover battle will win the game.

4. Let your playmakers cook

When the Buckeyes unleashed Jeremiah Smith in the first two Playoff games last year, we saw what happened. The Buckeyes’ offense could not be stopped. Regardless of what Texas does to Smith on Saturday, there are enough skill players on this team to unleash and let them cook and take over this game.

Score Prediction: Buckeyes 31 – Texas 21

I’m expecting a close game Saturday with a defensive first half. But when push comes to shove in the second half, the Buckeyes’ talent will take over and put Texas away. Jeremiah Smith will make a game-breaking play, and James Peoples will pound the rock to wear Texas’s defense down in the second half.

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