When people talk about the new era of Texas Football, they seemed to be right, according to the first game of the season. To start with, Steve Sarkisian led the new-look longhorns to a seemingly rare 1-0 start to the season. The win, a 38-18 victory over the #23 ranked Louisiana Rajin’ Cajuns, quieted many of the doubters.

Redshirt Freshman Hudson Card led the offense in his very first start for the Longhorns. Although he missed a few throws right out the gate, Card found a solid rhythm and continued that until he was pulled out of the game in the third quarter. His counting stats were 14-21 on passes, with two throwing touchdowns and one running touchdown. Card showed a lot of poise in his first start. Something impressive was his ability to find the easy throws. Card only made a few throws down the field throughout the game, but that was all that was required of him. There were not any big misses from Card. Instead, he made passes like the checkdown that led to the receiving touchdown to Bijan Robinson.

Later in the game, quarterback Casey Thompson, redshirt Junior, came into the game and did the virtually the exact same thing as Card did. The debate between which QB to start will either haunt Sarkisian or make him look like a genius.

Running back Bijan Robinson and wide receiver Jordan Whittington were also two individuals that shined during Saturday’s game. Robinson ended the game with 103 yards, a running touchdown, four passes for 73 yards and another receiving touchdown.

This production earned Robinson the Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week award as well as the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week. Despite the stats, it just seemed like whenever the Longhorns needed any yards, it was a hand-off or a short pass to Robinson and he would do the rest.

Moving to another skill position, Whittington emerged as the best wide receiver on the team. He had over 100 yards and was the consistent option when it was third or fourth down. Players like Joshua Moore were slightly disappointed with the mediocre play with the other receivers because of the deep and highlight play opportunities.

With all these bright spots on the offensive, the defensive play was just, let’s say, average. While Louisiana only scored 18 points, there was only one play that made everyone jump out of their seat. The hard hit and fumble secured by Jerrin Thompson. But that went with the theme of the game: it was just good and did the job. To go along with that the 45-yard kick that Senior Cameron Dicker missed was disappointing, but he made up for it by a 49-yard field goal.

Overall, the entire game felt manageable, which was something that a Longhorn fan has not felt in a while. This game always seemed in their control, and there was not a big thought about a comeback that always appears to happen against the Longhorns.

Looking forward to this week’s game, the Longhorns are projected by ESPN to win the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks, and I agree with ESPN. I think that our offensive can explode through the air and the ground at any point. Who knows, this might just be the introduction into the SEC.