Texas is off and running this season with strong Week 1 win, and the Longhorns are now preparing for one of the marquee matchups of Week 2.

Steve Sarkisian will take his team into Ann Arbor for FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff to face the reigning national champions. That game against Michigan is a top 10 matchup but one the Longhorns are favored in, even on the road.

However, the magnitude of the game is not lost on ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky. During Thursday’s broadcast of “Get Up,” Orlovsky said Saturday’s game is a must-win for Texas to reach the College Football Playoff.

“If Texas wants to make the College Football Playoff — even at 12 teams — they gotta win this game. Because if you go to the middle of October, they’re going to play in back-to-back weeks Oklahoma and Georgia,” said Orlovsky. “So if you’re going to Michigan and you want to give yourself just a little padding when it comes to that 2-game stretch, that’s going to be paramount to go win this football game. And you end the season on the road against Texas A&M who we saw is going to be a very capable team.”

Orlovsky also sees a massive opportunity in this game for Quinn Ewers as he prepares to face an elite defense headlined by a prominent NFL Draft prospect in Will Johnson. The star cornerback for the Wolverines kickstarted the season with a game-icing pick-6 in Michigan’s opener vs. Fresno State.

“It’s a massive opportunity for Quinn Ewers, their QB. He’s going to go against a top 5 likely pick in Will Johnson, the corner at Michigan,” Orlovsky described. “I think to really solidify like hey we got a real chance to get into the Playoff comfortably, Texas has got to go on the road and win.”

DraftKings still has Texas as a 7.5-point favorite on the road, and that’s an intriguing line for any road favorite, much less one in a top 10 matchup. Fans can use SDS’s real money betting apps to track any line movement ahead of Saturday’s kickoff and get in on the action.