With roughly two months remaining until the return of College Football, the Las Vegas experts are predicting where teams will finish the 2018 regular season. Texas enters Year 2 of the Tom Herman era with added offseason hype surrounding the Longhorns, and Vegas appears to believe there’s substance behind it. Early odds have Texas at 8.5 regular-season wins, which is a decent jump from the 6-6 record Texas posted in the 2017 regular season. The Horns247 staff gives its thoughts on where they stand with the Longhorns’ odds entering Herman’s second year as head coach.

Question of the Week: Hypothetically speaking, would you take the over or under of Vegas’ predicted 8.5 regular-season win total for Texas?

Bobby Burton, Publisher

Well, it looks like Vegas is on the shy side of how I expect things to turn out this fall for the Horns. A large portion of my increased expectation level comes from the Big 12 overall since a lot of teams have big turnover at QB. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and TCU all have new guys at the helm, as does USC in out of conference play. And I don’t think the Texas D will sleepwalk in week one against Maryland this year, either. Then there’s also the fact that I expect Texas to be significantly better on offense overall. The OL should be better. The QBs should be better. The running game should be better. And Tom Herman is no longer going to let Tim Beck call plays in a virtual vacuum like he did the first eight games last year. I think the bottom of expectations should be 9 wins with the ceiling perhaps two more.

Chip Brown, Columnist

Because Texas lost four games where the Longhorns led in the fourth quarter last season, I came up just a touch short of my 12-1 prediction for the Horns in 2017. (Wink, wink.) The culture installation last year impacted the offense greatly — from a coaching and player perspective — and that side of the ball pressed, played uptight and underperformed, to put it mildly. This season, the culture is in, according to Tom Herman, and it needs to be all about ball. That's why I think Herman ends up calling the plays and making sure the offense is exactly the way he wants it. This year is too important to the growth of the offense (and to the program overall with Jimbo Fisher now in the neighborhood) to treat the play calling on offense any other way. The winning culture is already in on defense. That group expects to go out and play winning football under Todd Orlando. This season, it's all about the growth of the offense and special teams to have the same winning mindset of the D. The Horns improved by two wins last year — from 5-7 to 7-6 — and I think there's enough talent on this roster to improve by two wins again this season, pushing Texas to nine regular-season wins (maybe more) and over Vegas' win total of 8.5.

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Jeff Howe, Senior Writer

As of right now as we sit here 66 days away from kickoff, I’m going to take the under. My reluctance to predict more than eight regular-season victories for the Longhorns has nothing to with the ability of Tom Herman and his coaching staff or the talent within the program, per se. Regarding personnel, replacing Poona Ford is likely going to be easier said than done. Chris Nelson stepping up and providing a formidable presence would be the best-case scenario, but I’m expecting to see a defensive line that relies more on movement and athleticism with Ford no longer plugging the middle of the line. I’m also curious to see if the offense can improve enough to make up for the advantage the Longhorns no longer have in the kicking game to rely on Michael Dickson to flip the field. Even if Texas resolves those two issues, the schedule is going to be brutal to navigate without a misstep or two along the way. A four-game stretch from the middle of September where the Longhorns will face USC, TCU, Kansas State and Oklahoma are four opponents Texas went 1-3 against last season, which will need to be change if the Longhorns plan on claiming more than the six regular-season victories they tallied last season.

Taylor Estes, Managing Editor

Even though the Texas hype train seems to be rolling this offseason, I am a little hesitant to jump on board because of some glaring question marks at key positions. I do think there will be improvement on the offensive side of the ball, but I’m still reluctant to expect a significant jump in production because of the offensive line. And on defense, I do think it will continue to perform at an elite level, but I still think people are overlooking the magnitude of Poona Ford’s presence on the D-line. Plus, let’s not forget about replacing the most consistent player and weapon Texas had at its disposal last year in Michael Dickson. The defense was salty after the Week 1 mishap last season, and deserves the credit and recognition that it received. But it also had major help from Dickson, who consistently pinned opponents inside the 20, and forced the opposing offenses to drive the ball the length of the field. While I don’t think it’s out of the question that Texas could win nine or more regular season games, I’m not convinced it will happen at this point, so I would take the under.