Texas Longhorns Open College Football Playoffs Against Clemson on Saturday

AUSTIN, TX — The University of Texas will begin its College Football Playoff run at 3 p.m. Saturday with a first-round home game against Clemson.

As long as it’s not the Georgia Bulldogs, the Longhorns have to like their chances.

While Texas is 11-0 against everyone else they’ve played, the Longhorns are 0-2 against Georgia, including a 22-19 overtime loss in the SEC title game.

A potential third meeting with Georgia wouldn’t take place until the national championship game.

Until then, No. 5-seeded Texas will have to battle its way through the 12-team bracket, beginning with No. 12 Clemson (10-3).

The game will be broadcast on TNT and Max.

An interesting storyline is the rematch between the teams’ quarterbacks — Texas’ Quinn Ewers and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik.

The two met in high school in January 2021 when Klubnik’s Austin Westlake team beat Ewers’ Southlake Carroll squad 52-34 in the Class 6A Division state final.

The Longhorns will be the obvious favorite in this matchup, especially with their elite defense.

Clemson was a bit of an underdog to even reach the playoffs, but the Tigers have more recent tradition with national titles in 2016 and 2018.

Texas hasn’t won it all since Vince Young led the Longhorns past USC in 2005.

Texas’ offense has sputtered at times this year — with three straight games in which the Longhorns have failed to score more than 20 points — so that has to be a concern for Texas fans.

The winner of this game will move on to play at No. 4 Arizona State on New Year’s Day.