Texas is coming off its first appearance in the College Football Playoff, and head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns are working to return to the postseason amid their move to the Southeastern Conference.

Sarkisian and the Longhorns held their annual Orange-White Game on Saturday, splitting the team into an intrasquad scrimmage and seeing Team Orange win 35-34 over Team White. Between their 37-31 defeat to Washington in the Sugar Bowl, managing roster construction and building during spring practice, Sarkisian said the Longhorns have looked for their identity for the 2024 season.

READ: Former Trojans WR Mike Williams joins USC as Director of Player Development

“Between a lot of these mid-year high school kids and the transfers that showed up in the program, we had to kind of recreate ourselves this spring,” Sarkisian said. “And I thought that the buy-in was there. I would say this, like, our practices were really competitive. And they were hard. And they were tough, and they were physical. But yet, they really were working with one another to try to get better, and to me that that sets us up for June. As you guys know, in June and July, we do a ton of culture work and that’s when we really start on that stuff. But man, I feel like we’ve almost got a head start on that because of the way they competed in spring.”

READ: NCAA penalizes Arizona State for ‘impermissible in-person recruiting contacts’

Texas took in several transfers since the offseason began, including Alabama wide receiver Isaiah Bond. He impressed with 98 receiving yards across three catches, including a 75-yard touchdown thrown by redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning. Bond, entering his junior year, caught 888 yards and five touchdowns with the Crimson Tide, and he figures to be a weapon for Longhorns starting quarterback Quinn Ewers.

Ewers played two series, and senior defensive lineman Alfred Collins returned a tipped pass 32 yards for a touchdown when Ewers was in the game. Texas’ returning third-year starting quarterback said gaining chemistry with new receivers was among his top priorities this spring.

“Some of the goals were obviously just needed to get to know those guys — a bunch of new faces in that room — and be able to connect on the field and even off the field,” Ewers said. “But I think as a whole that whole room did a great job of coming in this entire spring and really trying to put their head down whether that’d be learning the offense for some of these guys or continue to work on their routes for the guys that do know the offense and just come out each day. And again, just put their head down and go to work, so proud of those guys for that.”

Wide receivers senior Thatcher Milton had a 50-yard receiving touchdown, sophomore DeAndre Moore Jr. had 93 receiving yards and a touchdown, and freshman Ryan Wingo scored on a 56-yard touchdown.

READ: NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approves ‘optional technology rules’ for 2024 season

Manning shined in the spring game. By halftime he’d gone 11-for-13 with 190 passing yards and two touchdowns eventually finishing with 335 yards and three scores.

“The biggest thing I saw from Arch was something that we kind of really harped on with him about a week and a half ago about just dialing into playing the play, keeping your eyes up, and I think I talked about this last week: when he gets himself in trouble at times at quarterback is when he relies on his athleticism, which he has a ton of and he can do, and there’s times today I blew the whistle on him,” Sarkisian said. “I don’t know if he was really happy with me that I blew it, but he’s noncontact. But when he keeps his eyes up and steps up in the pocket, and he can deliver those balls down the field the way we’d like to play. And so it was good to see and was good to see some of the guys around him play with him the way that they did.”

The Longhorns will begin summer workouts until the start of fall camp in August. They’re looking forward to opening the season against Colorado State at home on Aug. 31.

Texas will have an interesting schedule its first year in the Southeastern Conference. Sarkisian and the Longhorns will host Florida, Georgia and Kentucky, and they’ll travel to Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

READ: Arizona State QB Jaden Rashada announces transfer

The summer yields vital results when players focus on continuing their progress from the spring. Sarkisian said he’ll hold exit meetings with each player who’ll also meet with their position coaches. Sarkisian listed the defensive line and secondary among the areas he hopes the Longhorns can address this summer — as well as getting Texas back to the Playoff.

“What excited me today is that playmakers made plays, and that’s something that you try to recruit to, and how do playmakers make plays? You got to be effective at the line of scrimmage, right?” Sarkisian said. “I think that that we’ve got a lot of talent. We’ve got — there’s a lot of playmakers. We play a physical brand of football. But more importantly, I like the kind of energy of this team. They’re in it together, and they want to be really good. And when you as a coach, when you have a team that’s motivated to shoot towards a goal like you are, that’s what makes it exciting to come in every day and to tap into them and go to work.”

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According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, Downs entered the portal on Wednesday, less than one week after Nick Saban announced his retirement from coaching.

READ: Arizona hires San Jose State’s Brent Brennan as next head coach

Downs joins fellow Crimson Tide players Isaiah Bond and Kadyn Proctor as portal entrants. Bond found a new home at Texas on Sunday.

Downs was named the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year after he became the first true freshman to lead Alabama with 107 tackles since at least 1970.

READ: Ohio State names Texas A&M’s Ross Bjork next athletics director

Downs received second team All-American nods from The Associated Press and The Sporting News.

The Hoschton, Georgia, native also added 3.5 tackles for loss, three pass break-ups, two interceptions, a fumble recovery and forced fumble.

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Bond entered the transfer portal Friday and quickly found a new home with the Longhorns. He was the first Crimson Tide player to enter the transfer portal after Nick Saban announced his retirement.

READ: Michigan’s Blake Corum, J.J. McCarthy declare for NFL Draft

According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, Bond’s transfer to Texas was a “business decision.”

The move comes after a season in which Bond led Alabama with 48 receptions. He was the favorite target of quarterback Jalen Milroe, who found Bond for 668 receiving yards and four touchdowns.

READ: Reports: Cam Ward puts off NFL Draft, commits to Miami

Bond will join a receiving corps at Texas that was led by All-American Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell. Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers announced his decision to return for the 2024 season on Thursday.

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According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, Alabama wide receiver Isaiah Bond will enter the transfer portal. Bond led the Crimson Tide with 48 receptions this season. 

PODCAST: What Nick Saban’s Retirement Will Reveal About Alabama

While he may’ve been the favorite target of Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, Bond also brought in 668 receiving yards and four touchdowns. He averaged 13.9 yards per catch. 

READ: Florida State enhances Mike Norvell’s contract 

Bond earned a starting role entering the 2023 season. He took advantage of it and also did the same on special teams. 

Alabama is still seeking its replacement for Saban as head coach. According to ESPN, Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer “is negotiating a contract” to fill the vacancy. 

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No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Michigan, No. 4 Washington and No. 5 Florida State all took care of business last Saturday. 

PODCAST: Week 13 almost had all-out chaos

No. 6 Ohio State was the only undefeated team to lose its first game last weekend. The Buckeyes fell 30-24 to Michigan, and the Wolverines won the Big Ten East Division. 

Here are some noteworthy quotes as focus turns from Week 13 to Week 14. 

Ryan Day, Ohio State 

Ryan Day and the Buckeyes suffered rivalry defeat for a third year in a row on Saturday. 

No. 2 Michigan beat No. 6 Ohio State 30-24, and defensive back Rod Moore put the final nail in the coffin with a game-sealing interception with 25 seconds left. 

Day and the Buckeyes are familiar with this sort of rivalry aura. They’ve not met their goals of beating Michigan, winning the Big Ten Championship and capturing a national championship, and they haven’t met the first two since 2019. 

Day summarized his feelings after the game in Ann Arbor on Saturday. 

“Hard to describe now, just sick,” Day said. “The fact that we came up short in this game. You work your whole year for it, and we came up short.” 

Bo Nix, Oregon 

Oregon finds itself with an interesting scenario this upcoming weekend.

The Ducks are in the Pac-12 Championship game for a fourth time in five seasons, and this year, they’ll compete against the same Huskies team that beat them 36-33 in Week 6.

Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will prove to be a stiff challenge for the Ducks after passing for 302 yards and four touchdowns in the first meeting between the two teams.

Fellow Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback Bo Nix is hot on Penix’s heels leading the country with 3,906 passing yards, and he said the Ducks are right in position that they wanted to be.

“That’s exactly how we wanted it because of the circumstances because we did lose the first one, and they’re going to be a great opponent,” Nix said. “They’re going to be very respected, and we just got to go out there and do our part.” 

Nick Saban, Alabama 

The Iron Bowl proved this year to be a classic once again.

READ: Texas A&M names Duke’s Mike Elko next head coach 

No. 8 Alabama held on for a 27-24 win at Auburn, and the Crimson Tide will roll into conference championship week on a 10-game winning streak. 

Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe threw the game-winning touchdown pass with 32 seconds on the clock in the fourth quarter against the Tigers. He found receiver Isaiah Bond from 31 yards out, and did so on 4^th and 31. 

Alabama earned its fourth-straight win over Auburn, and Saban has been around to recall some of the signature moments from the rivalry series. 

“So do I need to really say anything? I mean, it’s an unbelievable game,” Saban said. “I guess if you’re in this long enough, sometimes it goes against you in the last play of the game and sometimes you’re fortunate and it goes for you. And our players really stepped up, got a couple of stops when we needed to on defense, which we didn’t play great all day, but we got stops when we needed to, and offense put some drives together and we overcame adversity.” 

The post Quotables: Week 13  appeared first on Saturday Glory.

Alabama faced an early 13-0 deficit and trailed by as much as 20-7 at halftime. The Crimson Tide defense held the Volunteers to 129 yards and had a scoop-and-score in the second half en route to the victory. 

PODCAST: The Shane Beamer Story Isn’t That Serious

Trailing 20-7, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe found receiver Isaiah Bond 46 yards down the field for the first touchdown of the second half less than one minute into the third quarter. 

Crimson Tide kicker Will Reichard, who became the Southeastern Conference’s all-time leading scorer last week, made field goals of 42 and 50 yards while running back Jase McClellan ran in a 5-yard score that gave Alabama its first lead with 3:42 left in the third quarter. 

With 7:26 remaining in the fourth quarter, Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell picked up a fumble by Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton III and returned it 24 yards for the final insurance touchdown. 

READ: No. 3 Ohio State pulls away from No. 7 Penn State 20-12

The Volunteers outgained Alabama 404 yards to 358 but were shut out in the second half. Milton finished with 271 passing yards and two touchdowns and receiver Squirrel White had 111 receiving yards and a touchdown. 

Milroe had 220 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception while McClellan had 115 rushing yards. 

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