The Clemson Tigers weren’t able to pull of the massive upset against the Texas Longhorns in the first-round of the College Football Playoff, resulting in their season coming to an end. 

It was a really solid 2024 campaign for the Tigers. They were able to win 10 games, the ACC Title, and made the newly expanded CFP. 

However, going on the road against the Longhorns proved to be no easy task. While it was a 14-point loss, the argument could be made that Clemson exceeded some expectations, especially on the offensive side of the ball. 

Texas has one of the best defenses in the country, and certainly one of the best secondaries. Throwing the ball on the Longhorns has been something that few players have had success at this season. However, Cade Klubnik and the passing offense of the Tigers had one of their best games of the season in the big moment. 

In the loss, Klubnik totaled 336 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and one interception. Considering Texas was allowing less than 200 yards per game through the air, this was an impressive showing. 

After the game, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke very highly of Klubnik and what he was able to do against the Texas defense. 

“I’m proud of Cade,” Sarkisian said via Clemson Insider. “I’ve known him for a long time, been recruiting him I feel like forever when he was in high school, and the fact that his career didn’t start off maybe the way he would have liked at Clemson, and there was a lot of expectations for him there, but to come out and have the season that he had this year for them, to get them to the playoffs, to be ACC champs, that’s a credit to him. He’s a very good football player.”

After a mediocre sophomore season, the Tigers quarterback took a massive leap in 2024. Overall, Klubnik finished with 3,639 passing yards, 36 passing touchdowns, and just six interceptions. While a lot of the attention goes to him throwing the ball, he was also able to rush for nearly 500 yards with seven scores. 

The junior quarterback quickly became one of the best players at the position in the country, and was a massive part of why Clemson achieved as much as they did this season. 

Now, the hope will be for the Tigers that Klubnik returns for his senior season. If he does, they will be entering 2025 with one of the best passing offenses in the country. 

FORT WORTH, Texas — Move over, capital city. Cowtown is making Texas history.

According to census data from 2023 and released in November, Fort Worth has surpassed Austin in population and now ranks as Texas’ fourth-largest city.

According to the Texas Demographic Center’s 2023 Population Estimates report, Austin now ranks as the No. 5 Texas metro.

As of Jan. 1, 2024, Fort Worth had a population of 989,878. Austin is creeping up on a million people as well. It’s population at the same time was estimated at 986,928.

Not only is Fort Worth larger than Austin, it appears to be growing at a faster rate. Cowtown’s population increased 7.75% from 2020 to 2024. During the same period, the Live Music Capital of the World only grew 2.6%.

Not surprisingly, Houston was ranked Texas’ most populous city with about 2,318,657 people as of Jan. 1, 2024. San Antonio came in at No. 2 with roughly 1,496, 876 residents, and Dallas landed at No. 3 with 1,308,404.

Austin has been a popular relocation destination in recent years but may have lost some of its clout. As recently as 2023, it was ranked the 10-most populous city in the U.S.

It has since been knocked out of the top 10.

Austin, Texas is no longer the 4th largest city in Texas but 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th … that would be El Paso … remain the same.

I found out recently that the top 10 biggest city rankings in New Mexico are quickly headed for a change as #2’s about to fall into 3rd place.

Now it looks like the Texas lineup has officially changed as #4 falls to 5th place.

Population – wise, the Texas top 10 used to look like this:

1. Houston
2. San Antonio
3. Dallas
4. Austin
5. Fort Worth’
6. El Paso
7. Arlington
8. Corpus Christi
9. Plano
10. Lubbock

That’s changed now as Texas continues to experience some serious growth, especially in some of our smaller towns.

Another population analysis by Smart Asset showed New Braunfels and three other Central Texas cities had among the highest population growth rates in the entire U.S. over the past year. New Braunfels, Georgetown, Atascocita and Conroe were listed among the top ten cities with the highest population increases. – statesman.com

Which City Is Now The 4th Largest In Texas?

Fort Worth, (population  989,878) and Austin, (population 986,928), just flip-flopped with Fort Worth moving to 4th place and Austin falling to 5th. Fort Worth bested Austin by about 3,000 peeps.

Did Anything Change For El Paso?

El Paso has experienced some growth but remains in 6th place. Our neighbor to the north-northwest, Las Cruces, is the 2nd largest city in New Mexico … for now. It looks like there is a change looming there too as Rio Rancho is gaining on them very quickly.