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Longhorns bring a winning attitude, and not a moment too soon
AUSTIN — Hope is a wonderful thing.
Without it, there is only anxiety and sadness and despair.
With it, anything is possible.
On Saturday, the much-maligned Texas football team finally offered some. Plenty of it, in fact.
The preseason No. 1 college football team, the team we all expected to see on a weekly basis, the program that has teased its fan base with the possibility of its first national championship in 20 years showed up.
And none too soon.
Texas dominated Oklahoma 23-6.
The Longhorn defense was spectacular. The one we’d become accustomed to seeing the last couple of years.
The Longhorn offense was noticeably improved against a Top 5 national defense. It even converted third downs.
The Longhorn specials team scored on Ryan Niblett’s 75-yard punt return. Yes, Mason Shipley boinked a 55-yard field goal try and was short on a 56-yard try. But he’s damn steady inside 50 yards.
So a day after reinvigorating its season, Texas returned to the Associated Press Top 25 poll at No. 21. Maybe too low. My ballot had the Horns at No. 17.
With the win, Texas is 1-1 in SEC play and a contender.
If you really want to dream, a 4-2 Longhorn team at the halfway point of the season is very much a candidate for another College Football Playoff berth.
Anything is possible.
Assuming Texas remains committed to playing with that kind of fire, purpose and determination as it did in the Cotton Bowl. THAT Longhorn team can run the table. But that’s a big if.
“I think this — we’re 1-1 in the SEC,” Sarkisian said. “I said this last week, and I don’t think people wanted to hear me when I said it. We were 0-1 in the SEC last week. We won the conference a year ago in the regular season by going 7-1 in conference play. If we can play the way we played today, we’re plenty good enough to compete with any team in our conference, but we’ve got to play that way.”
Texas might could even earn a CFP at-large berth with a 9-3 record depending on whom it’s competing with for that bid, but it almost certainly has to beat Georgia or Texas A&M or both to have the type of quality wins to make the Longhorns appealing to the selection committee. If they stumble twice more and finish 8-4, they’re looking at a Citrus Bowl or worse.
The Longhorns’ remaining schedule isn’t the most daunting, but by definition as an SEC team, it kind of is. Their last six opponents are a collective 24-11. Three of them — A&M, Georgia and Vanderbilt — are 16-2, but Texas gets two of those at Royal-Memorial Stadium. You know, like home games.
That said, we’re getting way ahead of ourselves if Texas even starts thinking in those terms because I firmly believe the team had a false sense of entitlement going into the season and thought it would play great because it always has of late. Yeah, the Longhorns were overconfident.
That should no longer be a problem if Sarkisian’s culture is as strong as he thinks it is.
However, it was refreshing and encouraging to see Texas play with the same aggressiveness and confidence as it did almost all last season.
After a lackluster first half in which the unranked Longhorns trailed Oklahoma 6-3 and had just 114 yards of offense — 37 of them on one play by Quintrevion Wisner, the longest run by a Texas running back all season — the team found its footing.
Texas exploded in the second half.
It pounded OU.
It was by far the more physical team.
It pummeled the No. 6 team in the nation.
The Sooners had just four plays for 26 yards the entire third quarter.
Texas did not allow OU a touchdown for the second straight year.
“Three of the last four,” Sarkisian corrected.
Yes, three of the last four. That’s an incredible stat. Think about it. Texas drubbed OU 23-6 Saturday. Texas handily beat OU 34-3 last season. Texas blanked OU 49-0 in 2022.
And although the Sooners won a back-and-forth battle 34-30, Texas took the lead with 75 seconds left before Dillon Gabriel led OU downfield in 62 seconds to regain the lead. Quinn Ewers was driving late near midfield but ran out of time. Otherwise, Sark would have won four straight in this series.
Texas will gladly settle for 3-1 in the last four.
The Longhorns arrived.
Sure, maybe a month and five games too late, but Sarkisian’s bunch put together a championship-caliber performance and stuffed an unbeaten 5-0 team with a quarterback listed in September as a Heisman frontrunner.
Granted, fourth-year junior John Mateer wasn’t 100% healthy, just 17 days removed from surgery for a broken bone in his hand. But the Texas defense harassed him all day long and had the stats to prove it.
A season-high five sacks. Three interceptions. Stuffed OU, holding it to 88 yards in the second half on 30 plays.
This was a monumental turnaround, and Sark was glad his team stared down Mateer.
"John Mateer is a heck of a player,” he said. “But I didn't want to come up here and answer, well what if he would've played.”
He did play.
But Texas played much, much better.
“As I said, my goal is that we’re playing our best football at the end of November and into December, right?” Sarkisian said. “That’s the goal, but we have to work towards that. We have to continually try to improve.”
That’s the right attitude.
The season’s on.
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Kirk Bohls, University of Texas Columnist |
How I voted in this week's rankings
Photo by: Sam Craft, Associated Press
My AP Top 25 ballot:
1. Ohio State
2. Miami
3. Indiana
4. Alabama
5. Texas A&M
6. Oregon
7. Ole Miss
8. Texas Tech
9. Georgia
10. Georgia Tech
11. LSU
12. Virginia
13. Oklahoma
14. Tennessee
15. Notre Dame
16. BYU
17. Texas
18. Vanderbilt
19. South Florida
20. Memphis
21. USC
22. Missouri
23. Michigan
24. UNLV
25. Utah
Around the Horns
Quintrevion Wisner was a rock for Texas. The workhorse showed a toughness he’s famous for, rushing for 94 yards on 22 carries. His 37-yard run was a big spark for the offense. … Arch Manning had his best game as a Longhorn starter. He showed poise and tenacity and moxie after getting beat up by Florida the week before. He had to undergo intense scrutiny, including a story in The Athletic that insinuated he was poised to be the biggest flop of the season and said “his name is synonymous with failure.” It was a terrible hit piece on the grounded quarterback whom his team and coaches immensely respect.
The second-ranked Texas volleyball team got by No. 17 Tennessee 3-2, winning the final set 15-7 to claim its ninth victory of the season against a ranked team. Torrey Stafford packed the win with a career-high 39 kills, and Ella Swindle had her fourth double-double of the season with 48 assists and 12 digs. … Longhorn senior Christiaan Maas was the individual medalist, winning by 10 strokes, as he teamed up with sophomore teammate Daniel Bennett to lead Team South Africa to the team crown at the 2025 World Amateur Team Championships on Saturday at the Tanah Merah Country Club. Bennett tied for eighth individually.
Quote of the Week
Stat of the week
Texas converted 10 of 17 third downs, a major improvement on the year.