AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The new conference logo is on the field. The campus party over the summer was a hit. New chants of “S-E-C, S-E-C!” are perfected and a historic rival is back on the schedule.

Now it’s time for No. 4 Texas to play some ball.

The Longhorns are now officially members of the Southeastern Conference, and roll into new territory with the swagger of the new kid at school who thinks he’s got the talent to be the big man on campus from the start.

And why not?

Texas won the Big 12 last season, played in its first College Football Playoff and returns a load of talent from a 12-2 squad that finished the year ranked No. 3.

Year No. 4 under coach Steve Sarkisian has Texas not just dreaming about winning, but “obsessed” with it after last year’s near miss at playing for the national championship. It starts with an offense that could prove to be as explosive as any unit Sarkisian has had, with quarterback Quinn Ewers, a veteran offensive line and a receiving corps rebuilt with talented transfers.

“They got a taste of what it can taste like, of being a Big 12 champion, playing in a College Football Playoff, and we fell short,” Sarkisian said. “They couldn’t wait to get back to work. They couldn’t wait to get back in the weight room.

“When I took the job, I don’t know if I could have said that. It was almost like kind of prodding cattle to make sure that what they were doing day in and day out to get them to that point. Now we’ve got a team full of hungry players,” Sarkisian said.

Quarterback experience

Ewers took a big step in 2023 with 3,479 yards passing with 22 touchdowns and chose to return for his junior season rather than head for the NFL.

Sarkisian believes Ewers could prove to be one of the college game’s elite passers this season, though he has had durability issues. Ewers has missed at least two games each of the last two seasons with injuries.

Waiting behind him is Arch Manning, the former 5-star recruit who might be the most anticipated backup QB at Texas since Vince Young in 2003.

Transfer time

Texas landed a load of transfer talent, with a pair of pass catchers from Alabama in receiver Isaiah Bond and tight end Amari Niblack. Edge rusher Trey Moore (UTSA) and safety Andrew Mukuba (Clemson) were big gets as well.

Bond carries the load of the biggest expectations. Texas lost its top five receivers from 2023 and Bond led the Crimson Tide with 48 catches for 668 yards and four touchdowns. He’s the one who caught the 4th-and-31 touchdown in the final minute to beat Auburn.

Injury watch

The Longhorns are already shorthanded at running back.

Projected starter C.J. Baxter was lost for the season with a knee injury in camp. A week later, freshman Christian Clark tore an Achilles tendon in practice and will require season-ending surgery.

Next up is fast but seldom used junior Jaydon Blue, who has 80 carries for 431 yards and three touchdowns in 23 career games. Blue is a former high school sprinter who once clocked a 10.7-second 100 meters in high school.

Hill to climb

Sophomore linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. looks primed for a breakout year for a defense that lost last year’s dominant line duo of T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy to the NFL. He ranked second on the team in tackles last season when he played on the edge and was turned loose to chase the ball.

Hill will move to the middle this season, which defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski called his natural position.

The schedule

Texas opens the season Aug. 31 at home against Colorado State. The next week, it’s a trip the Big House at defending national champion Michigan. The annual rivalry with Oklahoma on Oct. 12 is now an SEC game and the following weekend Texas hosts preseason No. 1 Georgia on Oct. 19. The bow on the regular season is Nov. 30 at Texas A&M, a renewal of a rivalry that dates to 1894. The Longhorns won the last meeting on a last-second field goal in 2011.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

After peaking in 2023, the World Series-defending 2024 season for the Texas Rangers has been less than ideal. To say the least.

Injuries, ineffectiveness and a whole heap of other issues have the Rangers’ deficit in the AL West up to the double-digits with just six weeks remaining in the season.

How does the general manager respond?

In a recent appearance on GBag Nation on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM), Rangers GM Chris Young addressed the disappointing season and the looming fallout. According to Young, however, there’s still plenty to watch despite the “embarrassing” season so far, and he’ll spend the final 30-40 games of the regular season evaluating what changes need to be made to get back to the postseason.

Read Young’s full comments below.

Question: Bruce Bochy recently said that things are looking bleak. What would your words be, for the standings right now?

Chris Young: “You know, I can’t get caught up in it. The standings are the standings, it is what it is. What I want to see is us [do] is go out and play winning baseball from here on out. I want us to go play with passion and energy and grit and fight and determination and F-you behind them, because this season’s been embarrassing for us. This is not what we expected, and I expect our players to be as equally embarrassed as I am about how we’ve played. So I want to see us come out and fight to the finish line, whatever that means in terms of the standings or the record, that’ll happen naturally if we just go out and play good baseball. And I wanna see some improvement as we go here, I know this team is capable of more than they’ve shown and my expectation is that we do that in these last six weeks.”

Question: How difficult is it, and the season’s not over, you guys could turn things around, but how difficult is it to make decisions on personnel of guys that helped you win a championship? Will that be maybe the most difficult thing you have to deal with?

CY: “Well it’s part of the job. It’s part of the business. Naturally, those decisions happen, they happen whether you’ve won a championship or not. You become emotionally attached to some degree, I care about all these players. But it is a performance-based game, and we have to make decisions to find the best team and the best group of guys that we feel is gonna give us a chance to win the next championship. We’re very grateful for the contributions that all these guys have made, especially the ones that were on the 2023 team. However, we’re looking ahead to the next championship, and that’ll be factored in in terms of who helps us win that. That’s the goal for us.”

Question: Being on the field, being around the team, how important is that to you and what’s your philosophy on that?

CY: “It is very important for me, because I’ve been in those shoes. I see them working on a daily basis, I see the energy they pour in. And sometimes it really does, it breaks my heart to see them come off the field dejected or feeling like they’ve let the organization down. I know how much they care, and I certainly appreciate the work they put in and the care factor. It is high, I know we’ve got a great group of guys. So I want them to know they have my support, I also want them to know that I’m watching and, you know, there’s an accountability that comes with this, and I wanna see who’s working on a daily basis. If I can offer words of encouragement or words of wisdom, I’m here to do that. But at the same time I’m also interested in helping these guys stay motivated and knowing that we have a lot to play for and a lot left to accomplish. And I’m watching to see who’s willing to try and strive for that and who’s gonna go get it these last six weeks and who’s not.”

When you look ahead to the offseason, do you know any of the clarity when it comes to the financial resources and how aggressive you’ll be able to be?

CY: “No, those conversations will begin soon. We don’t have really an idea, we haven’t gotten that far along yet. But we will get there in the coming weeks or months, at which point we’ll get to work. I can tell you that from a front office standpoint we’re extremely motivated, we’re gonna do everything we can to make this roster better, to improve and to make sure our fans can come out and see a winning, playoff-caliber team, and a team that’s capable of winning a World Series next year. That’s where our focus is gonna be and we’re not gonna stop until we make that happen.”

To listen to the full interview, click here.

Twitter: @dmn_rangers

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Texas Tech’s men’s basketball team announced it’s complete 2024-25 non-conference schedule for the 100th season of Red Raider basketball and second under head coach Grant McCasland on Monday.

McCasland led the Red Raiders to an NCAA tournament berth in his first season at the helm, bringing Tech back after missing the tournament in 2022-23 under former head coach Mark Adams.

The second year under McCasland will see a rekindling of the Texas Tech-Texas A&M rivalry that hasn’t been played since the 2011-12 season where the Aggies beat the Red Raiders at then United Spirit Arena.

Who will take on the Red Raiders in the United Supermarkets Arena? Here is the complete 2024-25 Texas Tech non-conference schedule:

Nov. 5: vs. Bethune-Cookman, 7 p.m., United Supermarkets Arena (ESPN+)

Nov. 8: vs. Northwestern State, 7 p.m., United Supermarkets Arena (ESPN+)

Nov. 13: vs. Wyoming, 7 p.m., United Supermarkets Arena (ESPN+)

Nov. 18: vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 7 p.m., United Supermarkets Arena (ESPN+)

Nov. 21: Legends Classic: vs. Saint Joseph’s, 8 p.m., Barclays Center (ESPN2)

Nov. 22: Legends Classic: vs. Texas / Syracuse, TBD, Barclays Center (ESPNU)

Nov. 29: vs. Northern Colorado, 7 p.m., United Supermarkets Arena (ESPN+)

Dec. 4: Big 12 – Big East Battle: vs. DePaul, TBD, United Supermarkets Arena (TBD)

Dec. 8: US LBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge: vs. Texas A&M, 2 p.m., Dickies Arena (TBD)

Dec 16: vs. Oral Roberts, 7 p.m., United Supermarkets Arena (ESPN+)

Dec. 21: vs. Lamar, 7 p.m., United Supermarkets Arena (ESPN+)

Texas Tech will play a 20-game Big 12 conference slate starting in late December that will include visits from Arizona, Houston and Baylor among others. Here is Tech’s Big 12 schedule matrix, that will have posted dates at a later time:

Home and away: Arizona, Arizona State, Houston, Oklahoma State, TCU

Home only: Baylor, UCF, Colorado, Iowa State, West Virginia

Away only: BYU, Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State, Utah

Find more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.