Going game by game, a good seven months early, Texas looks like a 10-2 possibility

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American-Statesman columnist Cedric Golden pegged Texas for a 10-2 season this fall culminating in a Big 12 championship game victory. That 10-2 record sounds pretty good here as well. Taking a different look at the Longhorns' 2023 schedule, with picks on how each game will turn out:

The nonconference games: 2-1

Sept. 2: Rice. The season kicks off against a familiar foe in the former Southwest Conference rival, and any problems against an Owls team that went 5-8 a year ago would raise immediate red, er, crimson flags for the next week’s trip to Tuscaloosa. Texas 48, Rice 10.

Sept. 9: at Alabama. Quinn Ewers seemed on the verge of a massive game against the Tide before getting knocked out of last year’s contest with an injury and appears to have an improved array of weapons on the outside, but will that be enough before a rabid Roll Tide crowd? Alabama 31, Texas 24.

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Sept. 16: Wyoming. The Longhorns will probably return home from their SEC foray with an array of bumps and bruises, but a gritty Wyoming team from the Mountain West Conference might not prove that easy a salve. Texas 34, Wyoming 19.

Baylor, Kansas and Oklahoma, then a bye week

Sept. 23: at Baylor. Texas' Big 12 run begins on the banks of the Brazos River, where a Baylor team that endured a four-game losing streak to end 2022 hopes to rediscover its 2021 magic that resulted in a 12-win season. Texas 35, Baylor 24.

Sept. 30: Kansas. Whatever questions arose during the first month of the season could be answered against Kansas, which gave up 42.6 points a game while dropping seven of its last eight contests in 2022. Texas 56, Kansas 16.

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Oct. 7: Oklahoma (Dallas). Regardless of any Sooners bravado in the Cotton Bowl cauldron, there has to be some psychological trauma still lingering from last year’s 49-0 loss to Texas. Texas 45, Oklahoma 21.

A chance to start out 8-1

Oct. 21: at Houston. The Cougars join the Big 12 after winning a combined 20 games over the past two seasons under head coach Dana Holgorsen, who went 4-3 against Texas during his previous tenure at West Virginia. Texas 41, Houston 31.

Oct. 28: BYU: Texas fans usually flinch when recalling BYU quarterback Taysom Hill bulling through the Longhorns a decade ago, and these Cougars will try to bring up bad memories while pounding the ball. Texas 35, BYU 27.

Nov. 4: Kansas State. The defending Big 12 champion will test Texas in the trenches on both sides of the ball, but does a Wildcats offense that loses Deuce Vaughn to the NFL have enough pop? Texas 24, Kansas State 19.

The closing stretch

Nov. 11: at TCU. Sure, the Frogs lose lots of pivotal pieces from last season’s run to the national title game, but head coach Sonny Dykes will have had plenty of time to meld together something dangerous by mid-November. TCU 33, Texas 28.

Nov. 18: at Iowa State. The bloom seems to have come off Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell and the Cyclones, who scored a conference-low 242 points in Big 12 play last season while finishing with a losing record for the first time since 2016. Texas 24, Iowa State 13.

Nov. 24: Texas Tech. Tech looks like a dark horse conference title contender behind the bravado of second-year coach Joey McGuire and a talented roster that seemed to get better as the 2022 season wore on, but a cold dish of Longhorns revenge seems appropriate the day after Thanksgiving. Texas 38, Texas Tech 30.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: A game-by-game look at Texas' 2023 football schedule