Strength of schedule rankings came out for the 2017-2018 season already. To be fair, These rankings do not mean much right now. However, they are still an excellent indicator of what to expect next season for the Longhorns

Since most fans are very familiar with conference play, we will look at the out-of-conference schedule for 2017.

The Longhorns are in for a couple of tough match-ups within the first three weeks of the season. On September 2nd, Texas hosts Maryland in Austin. While Maryland finished at 6-7 last year, it can’t be forgotten that they played Michigan, Ohio State, and Nebraska three weeks in a row down the stretch. The Terrapins are still trying to figure out the defensive side of the Big 10, as they let up 33 points per game last year. While Texas allowed fewer points per game last season, there is still an expectation of a high scoring game on September 2nd.

Texas hosts San Jose State the following week. The Spartans came in at 4-8 overall last season with a 3-5 record in the Mountain West Conference. Regardless of how Texas finished last season, this game should be a win every time. Since the Longhorns don’t schedule FCS opponents, San Jose State remains the easiest game on the schedule for 2017.

The big game comes on September 16th for Texas. They must travel to LA to play the Rose Bowl champions, the USC Trojans. USC finished 2016 ranked third in the AP Poll. The Trojans also rounded out last season on a nine-game winning streak. They will definitely want to continue that if they beat Stanford in the preceding week. If anything, USC has gotten even stronger on both sides of the football, finishing fourth in recruiting for the class of 2017 (247Sports). This will be the first match-up between the two since Vince Young took down Pete Carroll’s dynasty. Tom Herman should have Texas ready to go that week, as he is 6-0 against top-25 teams.

Texas will be under heavy pressure by kickoff on the first Saturday in September and will have to prove themselves in the first three weeks.