College Football Game of the Week: No. 3 Texas Longhorn @ No. 10 Michigan Wolverines

Week 2 of college football will showcase a battle between two high-caliber teams with star athletes on the cover of EA Sports' recent release of College Football 25.

Texas Quarterback, Quinn Ewers, and Michigan Running Back, Donovan Edwards, are preparing to go head-to-head in this highly anticipated top-10 matchup.

Both teams secured pretty dominant wins over non-conference teams.

The No. 3 Texas Longhorns pummeled the Colorado State Rams in a 52-0 shutout victory led by an explosive offense putting up 545 yards and seven touchdowns. They accompanied that with a stout defense holding the Rams to just under 200 yards which is nearly half of their 2023 average (400.2 yards/g).

The Michigan Wolverines ranked No. 10, had a little more trouble against Fresno State but still managed to pull off a double-digit, 30-10 win.

It should be mentioned that they are working with an entirely new quarterback room.

Their former QB, J.J. McCarthy, graduated and was drafted to the Minnesota Vikings which leaves Davis Warren and Alex Orji as their main weapons under center.

They weren’t as explosive offensively, only putting up 121 passing yards and two touchdowns, one from each quarterback. The Wolverines backfield accompanied that with 148 rushing yards which isn’t a terrible performance overall. However, that’s over 100 total yards less than their last season's average (382.7 yards/g).

It was the first game of the season, and every team will have their “off days” so that statistic alone shouldn’t be dwelled on too much, especially this early in the season.

With that being said, this isn’t going to be a blowout like their previous games.

Both Michigan and Texas made the College Football Playoffs last season and are no strangers to top-tier competition. They each know what it takes to win.

Michigan ultimately won the title, but that success doesn't always transfer to the next year.

On paper, the Longhorns are the better team and are currently favored to win.

The defending national champions need to get more comfortable at the quarterback position and have a stellar game in order to top the third-best team in the nation.

Texas will take a long road trip all the way up North to face off against the Wolverines for only the second time in their program’s history. Kickoff is set for 12:00 p.m. on Sep. 7.

Carlin Whalen is a fourth-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email cjw6426@psu.edu.