Nobody in burnt orange is going to apologize for a 27-24 road win in the SEC.
Fifth-ranked Texas is now 7-1 going into its second bye week and is still the odds-on favorite to reach the SEC title game.
How fans view what happened against No. 25 Vanderbilt is largely subjective. The Longhorns had 108 penalty yards and 104 rushing yards. The Commodores (5-3, 2-2 SEC) never had a drive longer than 43 yards until they got a late 75-yard touchdown push to make it interesting.
Texas’ DeAndre Moore Jr. had no problems catching an onside kick and securing a victory before a mostly pro-Longhorn crowd of 28,934 at FirstBank Stadium.
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“I felt like it wasn’t supposed to be that hard,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said.
And as Texas center Jake Majors said, “It wasn’t pretty by any means. But I’m just glad that we came here, we won, we took over and we’re going home with a win.”
The penalties sure made things difficult. For example, a roughing-the-quarterback flag wiped away Kobe Black’s 72-yard interception return for a touchdown that could have iced it. But Texas also went 9-for-15 on third down and had two interceptions.
The Longhorns, now 3-1 in SEC play, needed a bounce-back win and that’s exactly what they got going into another bye week. Next comes a home game against Florida on Nov. 9.
“I’m so proud of Longhorn Nation,” safety Michael Taaffe said. “I appreciate all y'all. If y'all are listening, keep showing up. It makes a huge difference for us.”
Everyone who traveled to Nashville probably spent Saturday night having a grand old time on Lower Broadway. But those who were frustrated with quarterback Quinn Ewers against Georgia will no doubt leave this one equally worked up.
In the first half, Ewers completed 17 straight passes, tying Colt and Case McCoy for third-most in school history. He threw two touchdowns during that run, giving Texas a 21-7 lead. But Ewers also had two tipped passes get intercepted, which led to 14 points for the Commodores.
In total, Ewers completed 27 of 37 passes for 288 yards with three touchdowns and those two picks.
The first tipped ball was picked off on Texas’ fifth offensive play when Martel Hight caught a ball in the middle of the field. Vanderbilt took over at the Texas 31 and needed only five plays to take an early 7-0 lead.
“I mean, at the position that I play, you’ve got to be able to wipe those type of things off,” Ewers said. “For the most part, they’re out of your control.”
Sarkisian called for quick-release throws to get Ewers some easy completions and confidence. And it worked. Ewers engineered scoring drives highlighted by Matthew Golden’s one-handed touchdown catch from three yards out and a 27-yard pass to Moore to take the lead.
The Horns should have delivered some knockout blows in the second half but just couldn’t. Maybe that’s on Ewers. Maybe that’s on the running game. Again, multiple holding penalties were also to blame.
But Vanderbilt dynamo Diego Pavia kept getting bottled up at all the right times, as far as the Texas defense was concerned.
Ewers’ second tip-drill interception, this one in the third quarter, gave Vandy fresh life at the Texas 38. Pavia fired a bullet to Junior Sherrill for a three-yard score on fourth-and-goal, and Texas’ lead was merely seven points.
Bert Auburn’s 23-yard field goal with 1:57 remaining should have been the end of it. But Pavia led another late scoring drive, leading to more hair-pulling and teeth-gnashing by the visitors.
“It was just an odd game, because when you look at some of the key stats, we really controlled it,” Sarkisian said. “I thought Quinn played a fantastic football game, but the penalties really were a lot of the story tonight.
“It was not pretty, whether it was self-inflicted wounds or some bad luck involved, it was not pretty,” Sarkisian said. “But we had to find a way to win.”
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