The 2020 Texas Longhorns football team represented the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

during the

2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 151st season of college football games in the United States. Organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivisio ...

. The Longhorns played their home games at

Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium (formerly War Memorial Stadium, Memorial Stadium, and Texas Memorial Stadium), located in Austin, Texas, on the campus of the University of Texas, has been home to the Longhorns football team since 1924. The st ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. They are a charter member of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. They were led by fourth-year head coach

Tom Herman Thomas Herman III (born June 2, 1975) is an American football coach and head coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls. He was the head football coach for the Texas Longhorns at the University of Texas at Austin from 2017 to 2020. Prior to that, he se ...

. The Longhorns finished their season with a 5-3 conference record in Big 12 play, and 7-3 overall, having had their final regular season game against

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols. They then went on to rout the 4-1

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...

in a 32-point

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the secon ...

victory to finish as the No. 19 team in the nation. However, despite this fourth-straight bowl win, Tom Herman was fired after four years as head coach. This followed a second consecutive season that fell short of expectations and included a narrow home loss to Iowa State that eliminated Texas from Big 12 championship contention in Week 13. Initial reports had linked former

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

head coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

to Herman's hot seat job in the months prior to his firing; yet, ultimately, the post went to

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who was named head coach on January 2, 2021, just hours after Herman's dismissal. Pass rusher

Joseph Ossai Joseph Ossai (born April 12, 2000) is a Nigerian professional American football defensive end for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Texas where he was a consensus All- ...

was also named a consensus All-American.

Previous season

The Longhorns finished the 2019 season with an 8–5 record, 5–4 in Big 12 play, upsetting No. 10

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

38–10 in the

to end their season ranked No. 25 overall.

Offseason

Coaching changes

After being demoted from his role as offensive coordinator, Tim Beck was hired by

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

as offensive coordinator. Additionally, both co-defensive coordinators,

Todd Orlando Todd Orlando (born March 24, 1971) is an American football coach. He is the defensive coordinator at the University of South Florida. He served as the defensive coordinator at the University of Texas at Austin from 2017 to 2019 and the Univer ...

and Craig Naivar, were fired, along with several other coaches. Orlando and Naivar were replaced by former

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

head coach Chris Ash and

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler.

Position key

Coaching staff departures

Players drafted into the NFL

Preseason

Big 12 media days

The Big 12 media days were held on July 21–22, 2020 in a virtual format due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Big 12 media poll

Schedule

Spring game

The Longhorns held spring practices in March and April 2020. The Texas football spring game took place in Austin, Texas on April 25, 2020.

Regular season

Texas released its 2020 schedule on October 22, 2019. The 2020 schedule consisted of 6 home games, 4 away games and 1 neutral-site game in the regular season. The Longhorns were scheduled to host 3 non-conference games, against South Florida,

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, and

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stu ...

. Texas was scheduled to host West Virginia, Baylor, TCU, and Iowa State, and Texas was scheduled to travel to Kansas State, Texas Tech, Kansas, and Oklahoma State in regular season conference play. On August 12, 2020, the Longhorns' revised schedule was released. Previously scheduled games against South Florida on September 5 and

on September 12 were both canceled due to the

. On November 18, 2020, the Big 12 Conference announced that the Texas–Kansas game would be rescheduled from November 21 to December 12 because of Kansas' "inability to meet the minimum position requirements established by the Big 12 Conference." A team needs 53 players to play a game, and there are also minimum numbers of players for each position group. Due to the "ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across the region", Kansas suspended fan attendance at all home games from November 17 to November 30, although it did not make a decision whether the December 12 Texas–Kansas game would allow fan attendance.

Original

Revised

1: Due to Kansas's inability to meet minimum position requirements due to COVID-19, the game was postponed from November 21 to December 12, and was then canceled on December 10 because of a rise of COVID-19 cases in both programs.

Coaching staff

Game summaries

Vs. UTEP

At Texas Tech

Vs. TCU

Vs. Oklahoma

Vs. Baylor

For the first time since September 30, 1950, Texas wore White uniforms at home. These retro/throwback style uniforms were worn to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1970 National Championship Team.

At Oklahoma State

This was Texas' first road win over a Top 10 opponent since beating #5

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

20–13 in Lincoln on October 16, 2010.

Vs. West Virginia

Vs. Iowa State

At Kansas State

At Kansas

Due to Kansas's inability to meet minimum position requirements due to COVID-19, the game was postponed from November 21 to December 12, and was then canceled on December 10 because of a rise of COVID-19 cases in both programs.

Vs. Colorado (Alamo Bowl)

Rankings

References

{{Texas Longhorns football navbox

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Texas Longhorns football seasons Alamo Bowl champion seasons

Texas Longhorns football The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate team representing the University of Texas at Austin (variously Texas or UT) in the sport of American football. The Longhorns compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ...