OTF Premium Snap Judgments: No. 1 Texas rides historic defensive performance to road win over No. 14 Tennessee, 20-17

[Jeff Howe]

Colin Simmons committed one of the most inexplicable penalties ever committed by a Texas player in the No. 1 Longhorns’ 20-17 road win over No. 14 Tennessee on Saturday.

The Volunteers didn’t score on the drive, one of their 11 possessions that failed to put points on the scoreboard. Will Muschamp’s defense put Josh Heupel’s offense in a vice, with the opponent’s only offensive touchdown coming with 1:22 to go.

Still, Simmons’ 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for "simulating using the restroom” after sacking Faizon Brandon in the second quarter was a microcosm of the self-inflicted mistakes that plagued Steve Sarkisian’s team.

Texas (4-0, 1-0 SEC) committed 11 penalties for 115 yards and lost the turnover battle, 1-0 (Arch Manning’s second-quarter interception was the lone turnover for either side). Officials nullified Jermaine Bishop Jr.'s 22-yard punt return in the third quarter after ruling that Ryan Niblett made a hand motion indicating a fair catch. The kicking game also allowed a Tennessee (3-1, 0-1) touchdown on a 57-yard punt return by Qua Moss.

The Vols mounted a furious comeback, cutting the deficit to a field goal before recovering an onside kick. Thankfully, the Longhorn defense stepped up and put the kibosh on what would've been an improbable win.

Rasheem Biles sacked Brandon and Hero Kanu forced a holding penalty, leading to two 10-second runoffs on Tennessee’s last possession. Jelani McDonald knocked down Brandon's desperation heave to the end zone on the final play of regulation.

The offense slipped gears all day, but Simmons recovered from his forgettable moment to lead a historic defensive charge to get Texas out of Neyland Stadium with a win.

Simmons’ five sacks tied Shane Dronett’s school record for a single game, which the late Longhorn great set against Texas Tech in 1990. The 10 sacks Muschamp’s defense racked up are the second-most ever in program history and, even with Brandon leading a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter, the Vols only mustered 221 total yards (2.9 yards per play), went 4-for-17 on third down (2-for-4 on fourth down) and kicked a field goal on their only trip to the red zone.

Sarkisian’s offense heads into the bye week with more questions than answers after an erratic showing. Other than Gianni Spetic’s leg, the special teams can’t be considered a strength right now.

Nevertheless, Saturday further proved Muschamp’s defense is championship-caliber. The Longhorns needed every bit of Saturday's performance to head back home with an undefeated record intact.

***

Other than Tennessee’s fourth-quarter touchdown drive, Muschamp’s defense did what he was hired to do.

Texas threw a lot of different looks at Brandon (17-for-29, 145 yards and a touchdown; two net rushing yards on 23 official carries), making it impossible for the Vols to get the passing game going.

Tennessee's best vertical throws were Brandon chunking the ball and hoping for a defensive pass interference call (Bo Mascoe was flagged twice). Brandon’s only completions of 15 yards or more were to Mike Matthews on the Vols’ touchdown drive, including a 30-yard touchdown, with Matthews getting position on Mascoe near the front pylon.

The Longhorns suffocated Tennessee’s ground attack, which finished with 70 net yards on 44 official rushing attempts (1.6 yards per carry). The Vols had 143 sack-adjusted rushing yards (4.2 yards per attempt), well below their three-game season average (298.7 yards per game and 6.7 yards per carry).

Entering the game with an FBS-leading 29 10-plus-yard runs from scrimmage, Muschamp’s defense limited Tennessee to four, with their longest gain going for 16 yards (a scramble by Brandon on the touchdown drive).

***

Muschamp brought pressure and played tight man coverage on the back end. A healthy portion of the defense’s success, however, was the defensive line winning in the trenches against the Tennessee offensive line.

Simmons’ redemption arc included eight tackles (six solos), a quarterback hurry and a forced fumble. If Zina Umeozulu hadn’t grabbed Brandon’s facemask on the Vols’ last possession, Simmons would’ve had the half-sack he needed to break Dronett’s record.

Simmons, Kanu, Umeozulu, Maraad Watson and Alex January tallied nine of the 10 sacks. Even when Brandon got loose and escaped pressure, Biles (13 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack and a quarterback hurry) and Justin Cryer (nine tackles and a pass breakup) were on top of him.

Ian Geffrard had one hurry in the box score. Regardless, the Arkansas transfer made an impact when he was on the field, helping clog the middle of the line to stymie the Tennessee running game.

The bottom line is that there shouldn’t be two happier coaches on the team’s flight home than Kenny Baker and LaAllan Clark. Their guys delivered a dominant performance.

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[Jeff Howe]

I'm adding to the article. Just wanted to get the first part out right now.

[Califashorn75]

Our special teams needs a lot of work. We have too many slow guys on that punt team. 

[mmdaytontexas]

Sark needs to fire his entire offensive staff. These kids are not prepared in any way, and their execution sucks.

[SuperDave0805]

Take the under against Zero U, 1st team to kick a FG might when the game 

[Holy Cow]

The special teams and penalties will cost this team a couple of games if they don't clean it up.  I have no idea what our base offense is.  Three vertical routes and a route to the flats and outside zone run plays?

[Guts]

I think we had more penalty yards than they had total yards so that is certainly a stat. 

[Jester101]

I’ve never been a “Sark needs to hire a play calling OC”. After todays game, I can be swayed.

[TTown]

It's a win.  But if we are realistic , there are many issues to fix. Some may not be fixable. But that really was ugly. A great team blows those guys out with any kind of decent offense. But I'll enjoy,  but expectations are definitely lowered.  

[IslandHornFTH]

4 minutes ago, Jester101 said:

I’ve never been a “Sark needs to hire a play calling OC”. After todays game, I can be swayed.

There are FOUR head coaches to win nattys in the last 40 years who also call plays. Fisher, Osborne, Spurrier and Paterno. Get an OC!!!  Sark is a good coach and I’m happy we’re a good program again. But come on already. 

[4thandFive]

Sark’s offensive decisions baffles me. I’m not anywhere near an expert. I’m just an ignorant fan, but the lack of situational awareness starts with the HC, but just Arch. 
 

Arch, btw, completed like 75% of his passes. 

[chennups]

 

 

This should have been another 15 yard penalty against us.  So pissed at our lack of discipline and poise.

[TheRoJoShow]

Good - 4-0 with two top 14 wins 

Bad- hard to sustain this style of winning 

[TexasFight12]

I think Texas wins by 20 if Smothers was healthy.  Arch didn’t have the run game to make his day easier until the 4th quarter. Then the offense looked good. 

[SuperDave0805]

Time to realize Arch has a slow processor, Look at the last sack he took Was clearly an all out blitz and there was a WR open on the slant but Arch didn't pull the trigger and got sacked, Plays like that have happened all year. At this point Sark needs to call plays that don't require Arch to think or make quck decisions 

[SuperDave0805]

5 minutes ago, chennups said:

 

 

This should have been another 15 yard penalty against us.  So pissed at our lack of discipline and poise.

Wasn't taunting 

[chennups]

Just now, SuperDave0805 said:

Wasn't taunting 

should have been dead ball unsportsmanship penalty.

[Chop]

The amount of downhill blitz they were running against us, this is the game to run all of those screens and Sark ran one

[FHS Mr B]

22 minutes ago, Jeff Howe said:

Colin Simmons committed one of the most inexplicable penalties ever committed by a Texas player in the No. 1 Longhorns’ 20-17 road win over No. 14 Tennessee on Saturday.

The Volunteers didn’t score on the drive, one of their 11 possessions that field to put points on the scoreboard. Will Muschamp’s defense put Josh Heupel’s offense in a vice, with the opponent’s only offensive touchdown coming with 1:22 to go.

Still, Simmons’ 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for "simulating using the restroom” after sacking Faizon Brandon in the second quarter was a microcosm of the self-inflicted mistakes that plagued Steve Sarkisian’s team.

Texas (4-0, 1-0 SEC) committed 11 penalties for 115 yards and lost the turnover battle, 1-0 (Arch Manning’s second-quarter interception was the lone turnover for either side). Jermaine Bishop Jr.'s 22-yard punt return in the third quarter was nullified when officials ruled that Ryan Niblett made a hand motion indicating a fair catch. The kicking game also allowed a Tennessee (3-1, 0-1) touchdown on a 57-yard punt return by Qua Moss.

The Vols mounted a furious comeback to cut the deficit to a field goal and recovered an onside kick. Thankfully, the Longhorn defense wrapped up an SEC road victory.

Rasheem Biles' sack and Hero Kanu forcing a holding penalty resulted in a pair of 10-second runoffs on Tennessee’s last possession. Jelani McDonald knocked Brandon's desperation heave to the end zone on the last play of regulation.

With the offense slipping gears throughout the day, Simmons recovered from his forgettable and led a historic defensive charge to get Texas out of Neyland Stadium with a win.

Simmons’ five sacks tied Shane Dronett’s single-game school record. The 10 sacks Muschamp’s defense racked up are the second-most ever recorded by a Longhorn defense and, even with Brandon leading a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter, the Vols only mustered 221 total yards (2.9 yards per play), went 4-for-17 on third down (2-for-4 on fourth down) and kicked a field goal on their only trip to the red zone.

Sarkisian’s offense heads into the bye week with more questions than answers after an erratic showing. Other than Gianni Spetic’s leg, the special teams can’t be considered a strength right now.

Nevertheless, Saturday was further evidence that Muschamp’s defense is championship-caliber. The Longhorns needed them to be that kind of unit to head back home with an undefeated record in tow.

 

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@Jeff HoweHow come the announcers and Ref's missed their right guard jumping early on the TD pass.  Play should have been dead.   and CS's piss poor act (pun intended) really changed the whole outlook of this game.  I'm sure Champ has the right way to handle that never happening again. 

[4thandFive]

Texas should have had 33 or 37. I don’t blame Arch for this. He tools some sacks but he was also money (75% completion).

 

I have bigger questions about Sark forcing game plans that don’t match the opponent or situation.

[Robbin Antono]

Arch is not very good, he is indecisive and doesn’t know how to read pre-snap.Flood and Sark need to stop doing this Guard pull and try to outsmart people, just be physical and block darn it

[chennups]

Didn't hear much about cade phillips.  they sure picked on Bo Mascoe though.  2 PIs and gave up the 30 yd TD.

[texcoyote15]

What do yall think about hiring a special team coach?  Banks is supposed to be a guru at ST but I just don’t see it. Some of it is the players just making stupid mistakes which I can’t blame on Banks, but man ST nearly cost us a game today. Used to when they first got here we would get several blocked punts a year.  We just rush to make sure they don’t fake it now.  Maybe mix it up a little to where they don’t know what you are going to do.  Defense seems championship caliber but offensive and special teams doesn’t seem close to that level.  We were more talented than Tennessee. We should have beat them at least by two touchdowns or more but we can’t get over the hump.  I keep thinking this is the week we see a complete game and it never happens.  The good is we are going is we’re going into the bye week 4-0. 

[charlie990]

Anyone belly aching about arch going 14/19 for 200 yards really has to ground their expectations in reality 

[Beast Texas]

At this point I don't know if we can beat Ole Miss, LSU, or Florida with this offense.