College football fans are well-known for overreacting to their teams’ season openers. Each Labor Day weekend game has the potential to spark talk of a program’s return to relevance or panic about the lost season ahead. The excitement of Week 1’s marquee matchups only adds to the risk that we all let our guard down enough to become prisoners of the moment.
In 2016, Joe Tessitore infamously claimed, “Texas is back, folks!” following the Longhorns’ 50–47 overtime win over preseason No. 10 Notre Dame, as Charlie Strong appeared primed for a breakthrough in his third year in Austin.