Rice football coach Mike Bloomgren has played Texas three times in his tenure at the school. The Owls lost the first two by a combined score of 106-13.
But on Saturday in Austin, Bloomgren saw a Texas program that has upgraded its talent so significantly that he describes the difference as "night and day" to two seasons ago when coach Steve Sarkisian took over.
The biggest difference for Bloomgren in Saturday's 37-10 loss to the Longhorns came on Texas' defensive front. He said the group -- led by T'Vondre Sweat, a 6-foot-4, 362-pound dynamo -- is a marauding unit befitting of the high-end SEC program Texas needs to quickly become.
"I just think their ability to play on our side of the line of scrimmage time and time again," Bloomgren told ESPN by phone this week. "[Sweat is] a monster. What he did athletically and the way he ran on Saturday, I was in awe of that kid. There were times in a seven-man protection that he just threw the guard aside and was hitting the quarterback when he was at the top of his drop."
There have been countless calls, pleas and, ultimately, failed declarations of Texas being back atop the college football world in the past decade. Since losing to Alabama in the 37-21 national title game following the 2009 season, Texas' program has been generally adrift in mediocrity. It has failed to win the Big 12 since then, cycling through Mack Brown, Charlie Strong and Tom Herman as head coaches.
From a pure talent perspective, there's an overwhelming belief among NFL evaluators that this Texas team in Sarkisian's third season is completely different. Just like Bloomgren saw on Saturday. ESPN polled more than a half-dozen scouts and evaluators about Texas heading into its marquee game at Alabama on Saturday night, and there's an overwhelming consensus this is the school's best talent crop in a long time.
Can it beat Alabama? Opinions vary, but there's a strong feeling in the scouting community that Texas has the talent to match up and even holds some advantages at key positions. Few would be shocked if Texas won, purely based on a talent comparison in the programs.
One scout who went through Austin this summer said he wrote up 16 Longhorn players, which means they are either draft-eligible or project as undrafted free agents. Another scout told ESPN that Alabama had 20 players to write up, which marks a sign that Texas is in the neighborhood of the top programs in the country.
"I think it's a playoff roster," said an NFL scout familiar with Texas. "From a depth-chart perspective, yes. And, too, if you're asking me after going to practice. It's a legit practice. They are emptying the tank. Going hard. They are hitting the hell out of each other. It's hard coaching, an Alabama environment."
So, can Texas, which is a touchdown underdog, pull the upset on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa (7 ET, ESPN) and declare itself a playoff contender? Can Sarkisian win what would be the biggest game of his career as a head coach by upending a mentor, Nick Saban, and show Texas is ready to compete with the top end of the SEC when it joins in 2024?
"Since I've been scouting there in 2014, it's the most talent there," said a veteran scout. "I don't think it's that close."
Texas could end up with more than 10 players drafted, and if that number is 11, it would be the most through seven rounds in school history. Texas has big advantages at quarterback and wide receiver from a talent and production perspective, but there are questions on both the offensive line and in the secondary.
The notion of Texas being as talented or more talented than Alabama was subject to debate, depending on the scouts. But considering that in four of the past 10 NFL drafts, Texas has had zero players picked twice (2014 and 2022) and just one player two other times (2016 and 2017), all the evaluators are comfortable saying this is a drastically different talent level at Texas.
"If you are going to predict a team to go in and beat Alabama in Bryant-Denny [Stadium], this is about as confident you can be picking an opponent going into this game," Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy told ESPN.
Here are the big questions Texas can answer against Alabama on Saturday night.