Jeff Howe

ICYMI, Goosby was also named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week:

From UT: Smothers fueled Texas to a 24-23 come-from-behind victory against No. 1/1 Ohio State on Sept. 12 at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. It was Texas’ first 20-plus-point comeback in the fourth quarter against a No. 1 team in 22 years. It was the second-largest fourth-quarter comeback and the fourth-largest overall comeback in program history. The Longhorns improved to 2-0 and clinched their 11th-consecutive victory at home, including their fourth-straight win at home against a ranked opponent, which leads the nation. Smothers touched the ball 25 times in three different ways for 108 all-purpose yards in the win over the Buckeyes. Smothers had 21 carries for 74 yards (3.5 ypc) and two touchdowns to go along with two receptions for 15 yards and a kickoff return for 19 yards. The Longhorns' offense manufactured three-consecutive touchdown drives to end the game (all of at least 12 plays and 72 yards) and rally from a 23-3 deficit. Smothers scored on a one-yard run with 7:14 remaining in the game to trim Ohio State’s lead to 23-17. With 00:25 seconds remaining in the ballgame, Smothers scored his second touchdown on a one-yard run to even the score at 23-23 before senior kicker Gianni Spetic’s PAT put Texas on top, 24-23. On the season, Smothers leads Texas with 144 rushing yards on 31 attempts (4.6 ypc) and two touchdowns. Smothers’ is averaging a team-high 72 rushing yards per game. Additionally, Smothers has caught five passes for 43 yards (8.6 ypr) and a touchdown. The Louisville Sports Commission launched the Paul Hornung Award in 2010 to honor its namesake and native son, and to promote outstanding performances by versatile college football players who often go unnoticed. Each week during the regular season, a panel of college football experts selects players for the Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll based on performance. A national selection committee comprised of 18 sports journalists and former NFL stars votes for the Hornung Award finalists and the winner, with fan voting powered by Texas Roadhouse comprising the 19th vote.

Good stuff! 🤘

Fire it into the sun!

Hill was a bright spot for the Titans:

The Broncos didn’t do anything with it, but it’s nice to Brandon Jones still playing well:

It’s refreshing to watch Texas impose its will on people when it matters.

Indeed!

The push the line got on the game-winner was almost poetic. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that at Texas. Also, it’s awesome that we’re not having to talk about stuff like this after a big game:

Forty carries might be an arbitrary number of official rushing attempts (sacks are included). Still, it's been a significant number for Texas under Sarkisian. Sark clearly didn't trust the running game last season. That wasn't the case against Ohio State. He was either going to win with physicality on Saturday or die trying.

AUSTIN, Texas — It’s time to revisit On Texas Football's “One Burning Question,” where we ask a question about the Texas Longhorns heading into a game. Entering Saturday’s 24-23 win over No. 1 Ohio State, our burning question was: Can the Longhorns win the line-of-scrimmage battle against the Buckeyes? They did. In emphatic fashion. Winning in the trenches played, arguably, the most significant role in the program’s first home victory over the Associated Press’ No. 1-ranked team since a 23-20 win over SMU on Nov. 4, 1950. From the time Texas took possession after an Ohio State punt with 5:47 to go in the third quarter, the Longhorns had a plus-28 play differential over the Buckeyes. Forty of the Texas offense’s 83 snaps came on the unit’s last three possessions: touchdown drives of 15, 13 and 12 plays, respectively. Even though Arch Manning sparked the first two scoring marches with a pair of fourth-down conversions (a desperation throw while on the move to Emaree Winston and a dart to Emmett Mosley V), Steve Sarkisian put the 20-point comeback on the shoulders of Kyle Flood’s much-maligned offensive line. Including the 34 yards Manning picked up on the five times he called his own number, the Longhorns toted the rock 22 times for 96 yards on their last three drives, including Hollywood Smothers’ over-the-top, game-winning 1-yard touchdown with 25 seconds left on the clock. The 22 late-game carries accounted for more than half of Texas' 41 official rushing attempts. After rushing for 140 net yards (3.4 yards per attempt), the Longhorns improved to 23-2 in 40-carry games under Sarkisian. Texas’ only two games with 40 or more official carries last season came against UTEP (56) and Sam Houston (41). The Ohio State game was the Longhorns' first with 40 or more official rushing attempts against a Power Four opponent since a 48-carry, 292-yard outing in a 2024 College Football Playoff first-round win over Clemson. Whether it’s been a lack of trust in the position groups responsible for making the running game go (the offensive line, running backs or both) or a desire to hunt big plays through the air, Sarkisian has, more often than not, abandoned the run in big games. That wasn’t the case against the Buckeyes. The belief in the ground attack can be linked to Sarkisian’s trust in the offensive line and running backs after both groups underwent massive offseason overhauls. The line is playing well together, Sarkisian said Monday while recapping the win over Ohio State and looking ahead to No. 1 Texas’ non-conference finale against UTSA on Saturday (7 p.m., SEC Network+), because of Connor Robertson’s veteran presence at center. While acknowledging that Robertson’s experience helps communication flow better on game day, Brandon Baker and Trevor Goosby have a full season as starters under their belts and seasoned transfer portal acquisitions Melvin Siani (859 snaps at Wake Forest last season, according to Pro Football Focus) and Dylan Sikorski (444 snaps as a sophomore at Oregon State) have exceeded expectations since joining the program. “I think there's a lot of experience and I think they're just working cohesively well together, but what I liked was the physicality that they played the game with,” Sarkisian said. “They moved the line of scrimmage and they created running lanes.” For their part, Smothers (74 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries) and Raleek Brown (10 carries for 54 yards), “didn’t go down on contact," Sarkisian said. According to PFF, Smothers and Brown combined for 80 rushing yards after contact, with nine missed tackles forced. between them. “We made guys miss; we ran through safeties,” Sarkisian said. “They were physical.” The running back group’s toughness translated to much-needed pass protection for Manning, who was pressured on just 11 of his 44 dropbacks, according to PFF. Manning was the sixth-most-pressured quarterback in FBS last season (165 total pressures, on 35.6 percent of his dropbacks), with Ohio State pressuring him on 14 of 34 dropbacks (41.2 percent) in last season’s 14-7 loss in Columbus. The Longhorns flipped the script in Austin. While Texas kept Manning relatively clean, Will Muschamp’s in-game adjustment to play man coverage against Jeremiah Smith and put another defender in the box to bolster the run defense paid off with a winning effort against the run (94 yards and three yards per attempt by the Buckeyes, who didn’t have a run from scrimmage longer than 11 yards) and more consistent, effective pressure on Julian Sayin. After the Longhorns only pressured Sayin on five of his 20 dropbacks last season, Muschamp’s defense pressured the 2025 Heisman Trophy finalist on 15 of his 36 dropbacks (41.7 percent), mirroring what Indiana (pressured Sayin on 12 of 34 dropbacks in the Big Ten championship game) and Miami (pressured Sayin on 17 of 40 dropbacks in the Cotton Bowl) did last season in wins over the Buckeyes. When Texas faced critical downs and needed a defensive player to step up and make a play, Alex January, Hero Kanu, Maraad Watson and Ian Geffrard won must-win battles at the point of attack. Muschamp went with heavier fronts featuring three and sometimes four tackles on the field, the latter being the case when January led the charge to stuff Ja’Kobi Jackson on fourth-and-2 from the Longhorns’ 13-yard line early in the second quarter. Winning the rushing yardage battle, providing adequate protection for Manning and bringing the heat on Sayin more than Ryan Day and Arthur Smith wanted (Sayin overthrew Devin McCuin on a potential game-clinching touchdown in the third quarter, with Justin Cryer forcing a hurried throw as an unblocked rusher coming off the edge) added up to the Longhorns winning the trench battle and the game. They won the way Sarkisian hoped they could against elite opponents after spending the offseason trying to get Texas to play with more of a physical edge by putting the fulcrums of the running game through competitive, intense inside-run periods in practice. With the trench battles sharpening both lines of scrimmage, Texas delivered when and where it mattered against the No. 1 team in the country. “As a coach, you get what you emphasize, right? And we've been emphasizing being a more physical football team, being a more physical offensive team and running the football when they know you're going to run the football and having the ability to do that and having the ability to have confidence to call it that way,” Sarkisian said. “At the end of that game, when we were down there first-and-goal, it was like, 'We're running it, man.' And they knew we were running it. There wasn't a secret. We weren't going to call a bootleg or a tight end corner route or something. The ability to get that ball in the end zone is gratifying as a coach that your players have bought into what you're asking of them to get accomplished." View full news story

DeMarvion Overshown will be out for 1-2 weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered in the Cowboys' loss to the Giants on Sunday: Lil'Jordan Humphrey was released by the Broncos today, but he's expected to be return to the team this week:

@Hank South, @Gerry Hamilton and I went to Mo Bamba's new shop on Friday. It's a five-minute walk from the OTF office, a development my wife isn't too fond of. https://mobambacollects.com/

Tavon Austin is still up there for me. Even though UTEP wasn't good when he played, I thought Aaron Jones was really good. Ja'Marr Chase is up there, too. As far as teams, the best visiting team I've seen is the 2014 TCU squad. They were good enough to win the whole thing. LSU wasn't near as good when they came to town as they were by the end of the season.

Chances are it won't hold throughout the season. That's why I'm going to enjoy it while it's here.

Yes, this is the case. Interesting, though, that Smith's name is still on the jersey. Typically, you've got a nameless jersey because it happens on special teams where a guy has to change numbers.

They should play with a chip regardless. Otherwise, everything Sark says about "prove us right" and "be enamored with us" is meaningless. The team needs to stay focused. Fans don't have to, though. Enjoy it.

Embrace it. That's what I'm doing. I've spent too many Sundays covering this team when the AP Poll release was irrelevant. Texas wasn't in the mix. It's good to be in the fight as a contender. It beats the alternative.

Texas needed a win over Ohio State. Nothing else matters. If this team can't handle writers voting them No. 1 in September, then they don't deserve to play for the title in December and January.

The target is massive since Texas won the game, no matter the rankings.

After Saturday’s 24-23 comeback win over Ohio State, Texas has replaced the Buckeyes atop the Associated Press Top 25 as the new No. 1-ranked team in the country. It’s the third consecutive season the Longhorns have been No. 1 in the AP Top 25. Previously ranked No. 4, Texas (2-0) received 56 first-place votes, topping No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Indiana and No. 5 Miami in Sunday's poll (the Buckeyes fell to No. 6 after losing to the Longhorns). After spending four weeks in the AP’s top spot in 2024, Texas entered the 2025 season as college football’s No. 1-ranked club. Before Steve Sarkisian’s squad rose to No. 1 following a 31-12 dismantling of reigning national champion Michigan at the Big House on Sept. 7, 2024, the 2008 season was the last time the Longhorns earned an in-season No. 1 ranking. Mack Brown’s team, which vaulted to the top of the AP Top 25 after a 45-35 win over then-No. 1 Oklahoma on Oct. 11, 2008, was the first Texas squad to be tabbed No. 1 by AP Poll voters since 1984 (excluding the 2005 season, when the Longhorns won the program’s most recent national championship and were ranked No. 1 in the final poll). The current No. 1 ranking marks the 51st time the Longhorns (also No. 1 in the AFCA Coaches Poll) have been the nation’s top team in the AP Poll, which ranks 10th all-time. ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25: SEPT. 13 (FIRST-PLACE VOTES) 1. TEXAS (56) 2. Georgia (3) 3. Notre Dame (1) 4. Indiana (3) 5. Miami (4) 6. Ohio State 7. LSU (1) 8. Ole Miss 9. Texas A&M 10. Alabama 11. BYU 12. USC 13. Texas Tech 14. Penn State 15. Tennessee 16. SMU 17. Utah 18. Iowa 19. Michigan 20. Missouri 21. Oregon 22. Houston 23. Louisville 24. Oklahoma 25. Virginia View full news story

Surely, those seats weren't cheap.