Texas football opens its 2024 season at 2:30 p.m. Saturday with a home game against Colorado State.

A qualifier for the 2023 College Football Playoff, Texas enters this fall as the No. 4 team in US LBM Coaches' preseason poll. Colorado State, meanwhile, is coming off a 5-7 showing in 2023.

Here are five things to know about the Rams:

1. Rams look to contend for conference title, winning record

Colorado State hasn't posted a winning record since 2017, but the Rams were picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West Conference's preseason poll. Receiver Tory Horton, offensive lineman Jacob Gardner, linebacker Chase Wilson and defensive back Jack Howell earned spots on the Mountain West's preseason honor roll.

Colorado State is heading into its third season with head coach Jay Norvell, who once worked on Charlie Strong's staff at Texas during the 2015 season.

MORE ON CSU: Here are the strengths and weaknesses for the 2024 Rams

2. Stick a man (or two) on No. 14

After allowing 254.4 passing yards per game in 2023 — which ranked 113th out of 130 FBS schools — Texas will quickly get to test how much its secondary has improved. Last year, the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Horton ranked fourth nationally in receptions per game (8.0), 11th in receiving yards per game (94.7) and 32nd in touchdown catches (eight). His season was highlighted by a school-record 16 catches against rival Colorado.

A fifth-year receiver, Horton will be the last football player to wear the No. 14 at Colorado State. The Fort Collins-based university has announced that it will retire the number once worn by John Mosley, a Black trailblazer and standout football player and wrestler at CSU who went on to become a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, across its entire athletic department.

3. Texas tight end Gunnar Helm was once recruited by Colorado State

Colorado State was actually the first school to offer a scholarship to Texas tight end Gunnar Helm, who is a Colorado native. Helm was a three-star recruit who eventually chose Texas over Auburn, Iowa, UCLA and Wisconsin during the 2021 recruiting cycle.

Helm is coming off a season in which he scored on two of his 14 receptions. Colorado State doesn't have a tight end on its roster who caught more than four passes for the Rams in 2023.

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4. Texas (and Sark) have met Colorado State before

Texas and Colorado State have played just once. The Longhorns opened the 1975 season with a 46-0 win at home over the Rams. While accounting for one of UT's seven rushing touchdowns, Earl Campbell ran 13 times for 103 yards in the win.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has also played once against Colorado State. Back in 1995 while he was BYU's starting quarterback, Sarkisian threw three touchdown passes in a 28-21 win over the Rams.

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5. Once an Aggie, now a Ram

Had Texas and Colorado State met in 1956, the Longhorns would be playing against ... the A&M Aggies? Before it was renamed in 1957, Colorado State was known as Colorado A&M and "Aggies" was used as the nickname for the school's athletic teams. According to Colorado State, CAM the Ram has been the university's official mascot since 1945, and the school also eventually adopted "Rams" as its nickname.

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Longhorns football opens season vs. Colorado State