It’s the question that is seemingly as old as college football itself.

Is Texas back? 

But no for real, are they like really back? Or just pretend back?

As Texas enters a mega-showdown with LSU this weekend, it feels like that for the first time in a long time the answer to that question – "Is Texas back?" – might actually be “yes.” 

To the credit of Tom Herman and his staff, the Longhorns showed tangible signs of improvement last season, going from 7-6 in 2017 to 10-4 a year ago. It included victories over Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout (yes, I still call it the “shootout,” critics be damned!) and a victory over everyone’s favorite almost-SEC champs, the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl. Those 10 wins marked the first time Texas notched double-digit victories in a season since Colt McCoy was on campus over a decade ago.

So yeah, 2018 was a real slump buster in Austin, spurring real optimism heading into the 2019 season. 

That’s also what makes Saturday’s game against LSU so darn important. If Texas is really back, back to the place that the program believes it belongs – among the elite of the elite in college football – then they absolutely have to win Saturday’s game against LSU. 

No, this isn’t a “must-win” game in the traditional sense. The Longhorns' season won’t be over with a loss. Instead, it’s almost more important than simply being must-win. This is about pride. And national perception. And that this program is beyond tripping over its own feet against seemingly overmatched Big 12 opponents (or in the case of the last two seasons, Maryland) and instead ready to wrestle with just about anyone in college football. 

And if anything the road towards backed-ness (yes, I just made up a word) actually starts with the opponent LSU, a program which to its own credit is one of the best in college football. The Tigers are coming off their own 10-win season (its first since 2013), have NFL talent all over the roster, and boast a new-look offense that put up 55 points in its opener as it unveiled a spread passing attack. It's a program that, like Texas, has everything needed to win a title, elite facilities (including that insane, $28 million locker room), a well-compensated coaching staff, and a rabid, wild fanbase that expects to be in the title hunt every year.

LSU is the real deal, in every way imaginable. 

And you know what? It doesn’t matter. 

If Texas really is back (there’s that question again) then this is a game that they will win. 

Come early this Saturday. @CollegeGameDay is coming to Austin! ?#ThisIsTexas #HookEm pic.twitter.com/sJqxu3LFmM

— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 3, 2019

That’s because, with all due respect to LSU, they are really, really, really, REALLY good. But they aren’t Alabama or Clemson. Right now, they’re not Georgia, Ohio State, or even Oklahoma (which I know Texas beat last year, but I wouldn’t say necessarily has “surpassed”). 

LSU is, by most tangible measurements, the third-best team in the SEC. If Texas can’t even beat the third-best team in the SEC, can we really say that they’re back? That they’re elite? That they’re finally ready to play with the biggest of big boys in college football? Maybe the medium-sized boys. But not the big ones. Not the programs that matter when you’re Texas.  

Nope, this is a game Texas has to win, because the elite programs seemingly always win these games. For Alabama and Clemson and even the Ohio State (at least under Urban Meyer), it doesn’t matter the venue, opponent or circumstance. There are no excuses or moral victories or close calls. 

Only wins. 

Seriously, how many times have we gone into a big college football weekend, and heard the rumblings that this is finally the weekend that Auburn/LSU/ Texas A&M/whoever has finally caught up to Alabama? And how often has it actually happened? Basically, never since Nick Saban took over. Same with Ohio State during the Meyer years, when Michigan and Penn State were knocking on their doorstep virtually every year… but could never really break through and topple them. Clemson has taken on all comers in the ACC and out of conference over the last couple years, whether it was Florida State in the ACC or Notre Dame, Auburn, and Texas A&M outside. And at least to date, no one can figure them out (except for the occasional matchup with Alabama). 

To be clear, this isn’t to say that the great programs never lose regular-season games. But instead, that they never lose the regular season games that really matter. Seriously, when is the last time you watched a big, regular-season game with Alabama and Clemson and just felt like “that team didn’t show up today.” The answer is basically “never.” 

The question now: Can Texas do it? 

It won’t be easy.

Keep in mind, this is a team which probably got a liiiiiiiiittle too much buzz coming into the season as is. They lost their best wide receiver from a year ago (LJ Humphrey) and eight starters off an average defense (they finished 67^th nationally). This is also a team which lost three of its final six regular-season games, and had it not been for a West Virginia meltdown late wouldn’t have even made the Big 12 title game. If they don’t make the Big 12 title game, they probably don’t play Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.  

None of that matters though, at least not this weekend.

On a national stage, against another big-time program, Texas has a chance to put all the doubts aside and show once and for all that they have arrived. That they are the Texas of old.

So is Texas really back?

We’ll have an answer to that question by the end of the weekend.