Since we're not talking about Colorado State...

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With two weeks remaining until the season opener, the Texas media has examined the 2024 Longhorns from top to bottom. Head coach Steve Sarkisian has been asked about most everybody who'll play this fall and even about some who have quite possibly fallen out of favor.

But there's one group of players he hasn’t been asked about.

What do we really know about the Colorado State Rams?

On this end, nada mucho.

Rams coach Jay Norvell told reporters he and his staff would begin installing the game plan for Texas on Monday, almost two weeks before their Aug. 31 season opener. When I relayed this news to Sarkisian at Monday’s media availability, he smiled and said, “I have a feeling it might have been before that.”

Sark's probably right. A win over Texas would be a season-maker for the Rams even if the season will have just started.

Besides the wild 43-35 double-overtime loss to Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes in Week 2 of last season, I didn’t know a whole lot about Colorado State before I did a little bit of research into what’s happening in Fort Collins.

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So here are five things to know about the Rams:

No. 1: Norvell, who served as Charlie Strong's wide receivers coach at Texas in 2015, is entering his third season with the Rams after having spent five years at Nevada. He's 8-16 at Colorado State but did improve from three wins to five in Year 2.

No. 2: The Rams use an Air Raid offense, a four-receivers, single-back set that was popularized by play-calling legends Hal Mumme and Mike Leach. Mumme’s son Matt worked with Norvell at Nevada as his offensive coordinator before moving with him to Colorado State.

“The quarterback is very talented and the receivers are very talented, but they run the ball probably a little more than people would think in that style of offense,” Sarkisian said.

No. 3: Rams quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi matched Texas’ Quinn Ewers with 22 touchdown passes in 2023. He totaled 3,460 yards through the air with five 300-yard games, but he also threw 16 interceptions. Born in San Diego, Fowler-Nicolosi’s family moved to Texas during the 2020 high school season, and he enrolled at Aledo, where he went from playing on JV to replacing two starters (one was injured, the other came down with COVID-19). He went on to lead the Bearcats to a Class 5A Division II state championship.

No. 4: The Rams could be a team on the rise. Phil Steele listed them as the eighth-most improved Group of Five team while Vegas oddsmakers have their season wins total over/under at 6½. The opportunity for improvement is there since the Rams went 3-3 in one-score games last season.

No. 5: Norvell is already in Longhorns mode. “We’ve been thinking about Texas,” he told reporters last week. “We’re getting ready for Texas. What we’ve tried to work in training camp is us. I’m not really worried about Texas as much as I am us. I want to play the best we can play.”

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Taafe helps UT teammates through hot summer Heat of the moment: Texas safety Michael Taaffe is in his fourth summer under Sarkisian, but even as a Central Texan, this heat is unrelenting.

Team leadership doesn’t always reveal itself in speeches held in a nicely air-conditioned meeting room at the team training facility, but sometimes it does when it’s hot enough to scramble two eggs on the sidewalk outside the practice field. Face it, it’s hotter than a sizzling skillet of fish grease in Austin and the Longhorns aren’t running from it.

These are the dog days of summer, when the number on the temperature gauge doesn't really matter. It's hot. Does 95 really differ from 98? Not really because it’s something they'll have to go through during the season. Sarkisian said there was cramping in the double digits during the first few 2:30 p.m. practices, but those numbers have come down as players have become acclimated to the conditions.

“We're being very mindful of our approach with that, but I do think it is important to expose our guys to it, and I would be doing them a disservice if we never practiced at 2:30 and then trotted them out at DKR on Aug. 31 and expect them to perform at a high level,” Sarkisian said.

The coaches can pound their point home about getting through the most physically taxing part of the preseason. But the example set by the guys in uniform who have been there before will resonate more with the youngsters.

“I think the first piece of advice is you’ve got to look at the heat as an advantage for us,” Taaffe said. “We get to practice in it every single day. Our first game Colorado State … I don’t think it’s 105 (degrees) on the turf at Colorado State right now at 3:30.”

Experienced players like Taaffe have been through training camp before, but for the freshmen, it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen. This isn’t high school. It’s a test of physical stamina and mental fortitude designed to get the mainline performers ready for the SEC. The national title won’t be decided until the winter, but championship teams are built in times like these, when the mental strain is just as taxing as the physical.

"I tell them to just embrace it," Taaffe said. "Embrace this pain right now because you’re going to get on that field and you’re going to be so thankful that we’re doing it right now and this is not your first time doing it on Aug. 31.”

You’re only as good as what you’ve been through, and this heat will have the Horns ready for whatever the Rams can throw at them.

GOLDEN'S CEDDYS: Longhorns rule in Paris. Let's celebrate best and worst of 2024 Summer Olympics

The Cheetah wants to race Noah Lyles Settle it on the track: Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill makes no secret of his desire to challenge Olympic 100-meter champion Noah Lyles to a race. “Sign the paper and lock in that 50-yard race,” he posted on X.

The NFL’s Cheetah against the world’s fastest man? That would sell, maybe even in America where the best sprinters often go unrecognized in the local shopping malls, compared to Europe where track and field is much more popular.

When asked by "Nightcap" podcast hosts Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson about the challenge, Lyles said, “He’s chasing clout. If he’s serious about it, if (he's) truly serious about it — I’m not talking about you just talking on the internet and you ain’t actually coming to me and talking to my agent and saying, ‘Let’s set something up.’ If you are serious about it, you’ll see me on the track.”

We know Hill can fly, but football speed isn’t track speed. It was smart to ask for a 50-yard race because Lyles is a notoriously slow starter out of the blocks. Lyles was actually in last place after 40 meters before walking down the field in Paris to win his first gold medal.

Those tickets would go like hotcakes. Set it up before training camp next summer. Let’s see if this Cheetah is really that fast.

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Caitlin Clark is more than a conversation Props to Clark: Huge respect for WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark, not only because she has kept her focus on improving her game but also because she has steered clear of people trying to politicize her stardom: from those who played the conspiracy card when she wasn't named to the U.S. Olympic team to others who want to make her the enemy of Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese when it’s obvious the two are relatively cool with one another.

I watched Clark score 23 points and set the league rookie assist record in Sunday’s win over Seattle and it became obvious she benefited from not being on the national team because it gave her a chance to take a mental break from a long first season and work on her game.

Clark is the second coming of Diana Taurasi except that she’s a better passer than DT from these eyes. She needs work on her midrange game, but that’s coming. A superstar already, she still must cut down on the turnovers if the Fever are to make some real noise in coming seasons. She leads the league with 5.5 turnovers per game and has at least five in 14 of her last 15 contests. That’s not efficient ball.

But most important, she's spearheading the growth of the women’s game. Clark sells tickets and jerseys and is must-see television. She is the prime reason Indiana is hosting the 2025 All-Star Game.

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