ESPN’s Desmond Howard Not Sold on Texas Being ‘Back’ After Alabama Win

The college football analyst is not totally sold on the Longhorns’ hype, despite the big victory against the Crimson Tide.

In the final minutes leading up to Texas securing the 34–24 upset against Alabama on Saturday, it didn’t take long for college football fans to re-visit the popular “we’re back” reference used by former Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger after beating Georgia in 2018.

Despite Texas (2–0) passing one of its toughest tests this season, ESPN’s Desmond Howard is not ready to hop on the Texas is “back” train. Howard, who predicted the Longhorns would beat the Crimson Tide on ESPN’s College GameDay, believes Texas has some tough games remaining on its schedule that it needs to win before he fully buys into the Longhorns’ hype.

ESPN analyst Desmond Howard isn’t totally buying in on the Texas hype, even after a huge win over Alabama / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

“I hate to disappoint you guys, I’m just not the knee jerk reaction kind of guy,” Howard told his colleague Greg McElroy on ESPN’s College Football Live, per On3. “That was a big game for them. Hell of a win. But to say that they’re ‘back?’ I’m not quite there yet. … They’ve still got Oklahoma. I don’t know if people have been paying attention to the Sooners but they’ve been really scoring a lot of points lately with [quarterback Dillon] Gabriel. They’re a dangerous team. Texas Tech may be a team that can give them some problems. Kansas is playing great. … Before I say they’re back, I need to see a lot more from them, but that was a signature win Saturday night.”

Texas ended Nick Saban’s 21-game winning streak at Bryant-Denny Stadium and earned its highest ranking in the AP top 25 poll since ’09 this week, leaping seven spots to No. 4 after the victory against Alabama. The Longhorns will return to action on Saturday against Wyoming.