Team notes the day before Texas faces Arizona State in the Peach Bowl

I never had concerns of Texas overlooking Arizona State no matter how much media and fans fast forwarded to the semifinals where the winner of the Peach Bowl will face the winner of the Rose Bowl between Ohio State and Oregon. But, if any fans had concerns about Texas overlooking ASU, that should have gone out the window after ASU’s run of producing bulletin board material.

– Defense is keenly aware of statements made by ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt and star running back Cam Skattebo. It’s not like the defense needed more motivation with everything that’s on the line but they’re a bull seeing red right now. That’s to be expected but they’ll also have to play under control. That ties into the next point.

– They’ve had a good run of practices with team-wide run fits. In particular, the D-line and linebackers will need to be on the same page with run fits to keep the defensive backs out of one on one situations with Skattebo. This is pretty much the crux of the game and Texas feels prepared.

– There are a couple of tweaks on the agenda but not anything (I’m aware of) that we haven’t seen at certain points this season. Texas can mix-and-match personnel to get bigger in places it needs to.

– Pertaining to recent practices and also the most recent game, Quinn Ewers is playing well. He’s certainly more confident and carrying himself differently than at varying points of the season. Improved health is a key factor. This game sets up well for Ewers to make some more winning plays with his head. I might have more on that right before kick off.

– Offensively they feel they have a couple of key advantages to exploit. One of those things can’t be addressed over night — the size discrepancy between the Texas O-line and ASU front-seven. The Texas run game has a good chance to be the story of this game, not Skattebo.

– Famous last words but I think we could see a big game from Texas’ special teams. Extra time has done them well. That doesn’t mean punting will be good. That is what it is. It means we could see a return to some positive big plays. We are hearing good things on special teams for the first time in a while.

– This is a confident program and it should be with the size, talent, depth, and athletic advantages going into this game. Now it’s all about assignment soundness on defense and execution on offense.

– After this afternoon’s walk-through I’m going to try go get a better idea of how healthy wide receiver Isaiah Bond and Cameron Williams are. Bond is expected to play but we don’t yet feel confident on what version we’ll get. Williams remains a game-time decision. The last time we heard ‘GTD’, Trevor Goosby started in place of Kelvin Banks.

– Catching up with sources offered a fair amount of confidence in predicting a Texas cover. That is not gambling advice, just a hint at how I think the game will go.

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