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The SEC Race: Potential knockout games this weekend Five teams legitimately remain in the race to advance to the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta December 7. That is barring a number of upsets that change the course, to be clear. This weekend, it's Georgia on the road and LSU at home with difficult contests that could shift the conference race. The five teams with one loss are Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M, Tennessee and LSU. Four of the contenders play each other later in the month, but there are still tough games before the head-to-head battles to get to Atlanta take place. OnTexasFootball provides a run down of the five teams schedules to start the week. Georgia (5-1) Remaining schedule: 11/9 at Ole Miss 11/16 vs. Tennessee 11/23 vs. UMass 11/30 vs. Georgia Tech Georgia heads to Oxford with Jaxson Dart having a lot of confidence, and Carson Beck arguably playing the worst of any SEC quarterback with 11 INT's in the last five games. Texas A&M (5-1) Remaining schedule: 11/9 bye 11/16 New Mexico State 11/23 at Auburn 11/30 vs. Texas Texas A&M has to navigate the game at Auburn to set up a winner gets in the playoff scenario game vs. Texas to end the regular season. Texas (3-1) Remaining schedule: 11/9 vs. Florida 11/16 at Arkansas 11/23 vs. Kentucky 11/30 at Texas A&M The game at Texas A&M is still shaping up as a winner locks up a spot in the college football playoff, as of right now. Tennessee (4-1) Remaining schedule: 11/9 vs. Mississippi State 11/16 at Georgia 11/23 vs. UTEP 11/30 at Vanderbilt The Vols have the toughest road schedule remaining to navigate, with the Georgia game a knockout game. LSU (3-1) Remaining schedule: 11/9 vs. Alabama 11/16 at Florida 11/23 vs. Vanderbilt 11/30 vs. Oklahoma LSU's schedule is set up to finish strong with three home games remaining. Need help Alabama (3-2) Ole Miss (3-2)

Note on 2025 CB Graceson Littleton The Texas Longhorns have entered the race for 2025 4-star CB Graceson Littleton (Tampa, Fla./Wiregrass). Littleton backed off his pledge to Clemson today, and will immediately head to Michigan this weekend for an official visit. The Longhorns also extended an offer today. The Texas Longhorns are also working to get the 6-foot, 175-pounder on campus in November. The staff is looking at both November 9 for the Florida game and November 23 for the Kentucky game as possibilities. Littleton's NIL agent is Rosenhaus Sports, who also represents Texas WR commit Jaime Ffrench (Jacksonville, Fla./Mandarin). The Texas staff is out and about in the Tampa area today. Jeff Banks is leading the charge with Pete Kwiatkowski, Kenny Baker and Terry Joseph also in the state. Texas will watch recent 2025 LB offer Kellen Wiley (Seffner, Fla./Armwood) tonight. Wiley has an OV to Texas November 9-10. Texas is also showing interest in Notre Dame 4-star CB commit Dallas Golden (Tampa, Fla./Berkley Prep) and UCF LB commit Cameron White (Seffner, Fla./Armwood). White is making an official visit to Michigan this weekend. Graceson Littleton File Ranked as a 4-star in the industry. 40 offers. SEC offers: Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, Missouri and Kentucky. June official visits: Penn State, Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and Iowa Personal record of 10.91 in the 100 meters in spring of junior year.

Let's go! Over the next hour+ I wanted to get some of your questions answered that we have yet to get to on livestreams or the chat previously. Bring all of your questions, comments and concerns regarding the 2024 team, recruiting to finish out the cycle and the outlook of the SEC for the remainder of the season. Will hopefully be able to get to every single question in the chat.

OnTexasFootball will be at Seffner (Fla) Armwood for practice Wednesday to see 2025 LB target Kellen Wiley Wiley, 6-3 and 220 pounds, is scheduled to make an official visit to Texas next month.

A quick update to the 2024 redshirt tracker for the freshman class. – DB Jordon Johnson-Rubell saw four snaps on special teams and his redshirt was burned as a result this weekend. – No other surprises at the moment. – The official stat sheet had Jordan Washington having played in this game but accredited him with a QB Hurry. I am checking on this now, but after a rewatch, I did not see No. 84 on the field on Saturday, preserving his redshirt status.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will discuss with the media what is coming up during the bye week, as well as a reflection on the team's 27–24 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday. Notes and quotes in the comments below.

Texas beat Colorado in a closed door scrimmage today 79-75. The Longhorns led the entire game, and by as much as 17. Freshman Tre Johnson led all scorers with 31 points.

The first true road game of the SEC era for the Texas Longhorns comes in a game where the Longhorn faithful completely fill the away stands. Nothing hostile about this game, that’s for sure. 1st Quarter: Texas gets the ball, but doesn’t do anything to help itself in terms of field position. Holding forced the Longhorns to start on their own 7-yard line. It took all three plays to gain 10 yards and an inch for the first down. Texas is running more on this first drive already than at any point this season. Oh man. A batted pass is intercepted and the Longhorns are giving Vandy a tremendous start to the game. This is absolutely not what Ewers needed to begin this game. The keys to this game are field position and time of possession. Texas is already losing that battle about four minutes into the game. Vandy doing Vandy things on their first drive. Creative rush attempts, jet motion, full house. Diego Pavia just out-athleted Jaylon Guilbeau to the edge and finds the end zone on a heck of a play. The Longhorns are continuing to do themselves no favors early on in these games. It’s an issue. Vandy 7–0. Texas stubbed its two on first down again. Missed block by Golden. But man, what a play from Tre Wisner to haul in that pass and make a couple of guys miss for a much needed first down and explosive play. Sarkisian is not tasking Quinn with many throws vertically. Everything has been a screen or a bubble at this point following the INT. What a catch by Matthew Golden! That was tremendous and the Longhorns answered very, very well to tie the game at 7 after a horrid start. How about that! Nice 3-and-out for the Texas defense after Vandy tried to get tricky on 4th down. An illegal formation helps the Longhorn D in that regard. Huge for the Longhorns to get the ball back there. Silas Bolden almost got loose again. Stop me if you have heard that before. Nice return. Longhorns are back to midfield. Texas is cruising offensively. What a throw to DeAndre Moore from Ewers and what a route win and catch from Moore. Huge play on third down, love the call from Sarkisian as well. Texas is up 14-7 after 1Q. Ewers has completed 12 consecutive passes since the INT. He eclipsed 125 passing yards in the first frame as well. The offense is still short, but it’s working and the deep/intermediate throws are growing at the moment. It took eight games, but we finally have an Amari Niblack sighting for the Texas Longhorns! Two receptions for 22 yards, including a 20-yarder. The Texas defense has come to play. Vandy has been able to get a couple of first downs on drives, but nothing significant and no chunk plays. Ewers is lighting it up statistically. A sack kills the drive, but he is in a groove. Penalties definitely hurt the Longhorns on that drive there as well. Self-inflicted. What a play by DeAndre Moore as a gunner to down Vandy at the one! Haven’t seen that in special teams all too much this year. Hello Trey Moore! Key play on a tricky third down forces a punt. Big play there for the UTSA transfer. Quinn Ewers definitely heard everything said these past two weeks and has answered in a big way. Ewers has been tremendous and just found his third touchdown of the day to DeAndre Moore, his second. I love the way this Texas defense plays football. They fly to the ball and continue to hustle. A freakish play gets Pavia his biggest gain, but it's called back to holding. Michael Taaffe should be a fan favorite and it shouldn’t be a debate. A huge forced fumble there gives Texas a chance to score before halftime. Taaffe and McDonald have been tremendous today for Texas, no drop off at safety despite two starting caliber guys out this afternoon. Halftime: Texas leads 21–10 *** 3rd Quarter Big test for defense to not allow Vandy the chance to double up after getting 3 before half. Vandy will have to go 75+ for a score. The running game is alive for the Texas offense. Tre Wisner has gotten loose on three consecutive rush attempts in the third quarter. Love the complementary approach from the offense here, needs to hold up moving forward. A sack bumps Ewers back and a drop leaves Texas in a field goal position. Auburn drills it and the Longhorns are back up two TD. Now, back to the defense. Kobe Black! Big PBU to force an incompletion and punt. Barron got some run at safety there. Man, I don’t know what to say, maybe Ewers is just incredibly unlucky? But another batted ball is picked off and Vandy gets great field position again. Jahdae Barron with a PBU of his own! Thorpe resume continues to improve. Jermayne Lole has been really, really good today. Second or third straight week I can say that about his play. I have no clue how Pavia fit that ball in for a touchdown on fourth down. Jelani looked to be in a good spot for a deflection as was the case for about three other Longhorn defenders. Regardless, a one score game again, the case for about three other Longhorns. Texas offense has hit a second half wall. Only 2.22 yards per snap for the Texas offense over the last three drives. Need another defensive stop. When Texas needs momentum, it’s the defense that provides it. It’s been the case for a long while now and it shouldn’t have to be. Longhorns have shot themselves in the foot all day with penalties and sacks. It’s been a disaster in the 2H. Liona Lefau gets the pick! Barryn Sorrell gets the pressure! Massive play for Texas. Put the game away. Jaydon Blue! Finally. Texas down to the five. Now punch it in and end this game. Texas doesn’t do anything with the first and goal. Field goal. 27–17 Such a bad, dumb play from Vernon Broughton there. He will be out of the Florida game for the 1st half.

Two recruiting notes Texas 5-star safety commitment Jonah Williams (Galveston, Texas/Ball) was injured in his last game. According to a family source, the 6-3, 205-pound safety prospect suffered a minor fracture to his clavicle. Initially, it was feared he had a collarbone injury. Obviously, that will impact the remainder of the Ball High season. OnTexasFootball spoke with 4-star++ DL commit Myron Charles (Port Charlotte, Fla./High) an hour ago. Charles informed OTF that he did not attend the FSU at Miami game Saturday.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is talking with the media following the Longhorns' 27–24 victory over Vanderbilt in Nashville. It was ugly, but a win is a win. More from the Texas head coach.

No. 5 Texas at No. 25 Vanderbilt Game Week Thread Culture game in Nashville for the Horns

OTF on the Road: Cocoa (FL) High OnTexasFootball is on the road the next couple of weeks. The first stop is Cocoa High to watch Javion Hilson at practice.

I came across some team nuggets that were worth sharing ahead of the trip to Nashville for the Texas-Vanderbilt game this weekend. *** On the topic of the offensive line, there was some concern from Longhorn Nation, myself included, following the Georgia game. Rarely under the Steve Sarkisian/Kyle Flood era had pressure been that consistent in a game. There remains a high level of confidence for the Texas OL unit. The Georgia game allowed for the group to refocus on technique and communication during the week of practice ahead of Vanderbilt. Inside the building, the belief is the OL is still considered a strength of the team and there will be a driven effort to take command of the game up front from the kick. *** Expect to see more of Jordon Johnson-Rubell this weekend than we have in any week this season. Of course, it will depend on the health of Michael Taaffe and Jelani McDonald, but JJR is the next up. I would be quite surprised if we saw Andrew Mukuba this weekend with the bye week on the other side of the Vanderbilt game. Jahdae Barron has cross-trained at safety and will be an option for the Longhorns back deep – Barron saw 21 snaps in 2023 at free safety with his highest snap count coming against Washington in the Playoff. *** Texas listed WR Isaiah Bond as Questionable on the first injury availability report Wednesday night. As we saw against Georgia, Bond was a bit limited and remained hobbled due to an ankle issue that had been lingering following the Oklahoma game. Bond is a tough customer, I expect him to give it a go against Vanderbilt, but how long of a leash will he have? That is more the question as Texas hopes to double up with the bye week following. *** As for RB Tre Wisner, the emerging running back left the game early against Georgia with a right shoulder injury. As far as I know, Wisner was in a green, non-contact jersey at the beginning of the week. Fortunately, he has been practicing for Texas. Our Gerry Hamilton and I have echoed the matchup vs. Vanderbilt provides a schematic fit for a Jerrick Gibson-type game with the downhill attack. All signs are pointing towards Wisner suiting up and playing Saturday, but much like Bond, how long of a rope will the Texas staff have with the 2nd year running back? That's the question. *** I know there has been a conversation about the punting situation as the absence of Michael Kern has been perhaps noticeable at times for the Longhorns. I will check again there, I did not receive any intel on what the plan is or why the freshman punter out of Florida has been missing on the field. Of course, Kern has not been mentioned on the availability report the last week and a half.

Update on 5-star You guys and gals have asked a few times about 5-star OT and Oklahoma commit Michael Fasusi. There had not been any contact with Texas as of late last week. OTF is hearing that is no longer the case. Nothing serious, but there has now been light communication. We shall see if it goes anywhere with Texas. To be clear, Texas isn’t the only school that has been attempting to engage with the Sooners verbal.

Expect to see much more 12 personnel. The multiple tight end look was tremendous for the Longhorns on Saturday night against the Georgia defense, one of the few bright spots on offense from the entire evening. I charted the snaps Texas had on Saturday with both Gunnar Helm and Juan Davis on the field and it looked rather encouraging. *** A few key takeaways: First let's get these numbers squared away. I counted 24 snaps with the Longhorns in 12P, those plays went for 145 yards, and when you add in penalties drawn on those plays, 168 net yards. The Longhorns in total had 80 total snaps on offense against UGA. Texas was in 12P for 30.0% of their snaps in the ballgame, and the formation accounted for 55.98% of their total yards on the night. Not too bad. – Texas averaged 6.04 yards per play from 12P. – Adding in penalties from 12P, Texas averaged a flat 7.00 yards per play gained out of the formation. Ryan Wingo deep shot DPI and a Tre Wisner facemask penalty in the red zone helped the cause. – Texas did not have a single negative play in 12P. No sacks allowed. No rushing losses, (there was a -1 yard rush from Wisner but a facemask negated the play). – The Longhorns had eight explosive plays in the game – pass plays over 15+ yards and run plays over 10+ yards. Four came in 12P. Ewers to Matthew Golden for 24 yards on a dig route in 3Q. Ewers to Matthew Golden for 34 yards on a go-route in 3Q. Tre Wisner rush for 10 yards. Ewers to Gunnar Helm for 23 on an out route in 4Q. The other four explosive plays that qualified were a 21-yard scramble from Arch Manning, a 19-yard catch from Golden, a prayer from Ewers to Helm on the sideline for 18 yards and the 17-yard TD to Jaydon Blue in 11P. *** Sarkisian's bread and butter is 11 personnel. It has been the case for his entire tenure in Austin and even prior to arriving. However, for whatever reason, there has been a consistency in 12 personnel, especially when starting each half. The Longhorns show a proclivity to utilize 12 personnel at the beginning of games and on their first possession of the second half. It's been a recurring trend for Sarkisian, but it gets the job done. *** A look at the play-by-play yardages gained on each 12 personnel play and when they occurred in the game. Drive 1: 9 yards 3 yards 5 yards 8 yards 3 yards Drive 3: inc. (15-yard DPI penalty) 4 yards 0 yards Drive 4: 5 yards 0 yards (incomplete) Drive 9: (out of halftime) 6 yards 24 yards -1 yards (facemask penalty, +8 yards) 1 yard 0 yard (incomplete) Drive 10: 34 yards 4 yards 10 yards Drive 13: 0 yards (dropped) 23 yards 0 yards 4 yards 0 yards 4 yards *** This obviously does not guarantee a thing in the win-loss column, but there was more success in this look than any other agains the Bulldogs Saturday night. Hopefully, Texas gets the chance to play Georgia again to exercise some of those demons offensively. If they do, I would look for Juan Davis and Gunnar Helm to be on the field a good bit more than what we saw this past weekend.

It's been the topic of the last 12 hours or so since the conclusion of the Texas-Georgia game. The Georgia defense dominated all evening with 28 total pressures on the quarterback – the most pressures allowed under Kyle Flood and Steve Sarkisian. Now, Quinn Ewers was not good. But the offensive line did nothing to help the cause. Even with Arch Manning coming into the game, there was consistent pressure on the quarterback. A few clips in pass protection that were essentially the story of the day for Texas.

A quick update to the 2024 Fr. redshirt tracker. Not many changes since the bye week. The next snap for Jordon Johnson-Rubell will burn his redshirt, but that is to be expected. Xavier Filsaime saw time on the field per the Texas Sports official tracker. TE Jordan Washington will burn his redshirt the next snap he sees as well.

A look at the snap counts for the Texas vs. Georgia game on both sides of the ball. *** Defensive Snap Counts Out of 71 defensive snaps. 71 – Anthony Hill Jr., Michael Taaffe 69 – Manny Muhammad, Jahdae Barron 53 – Trey Moore 50 – Alfred Collins, Jaylon Guilbeau, Barryn Sorrell 47 – Andrew Mukuba 41 – Vernon Broughton 40 – Jermayne Lole 37 – Liona Lefau 33 – Jelani McDonald 27 – Colin Simmons 25 – David Gbenda 19 – Bill Norton 18 – Ethan Burke 6 – Gavin Holmes 5 – Morice Blackwell Jr. – Trey Moore gets the most snaps of any EDGE rusher. Moore had two pressures. – Colin Simmons has seen 27 snaps in back to back games after seeing 40 against Miss State. – Ethan Burke appears to have fallen out of favor a little. He has only played more than 20 snaps in half the games this season and has not played in over 25 snaps this year. – I do wonder how much run JJR will get this weekend. Texas went to just a three man rotation with Michael Taaffe not coming off of the field at safety. Offensive Snap Counts Out of 80 possible snaps. 80 – Jake Majors, Kelvin Banks, Hayden Conner, Cameron Williams, Gunnar Helm 71 – Matthew Golden 69 – Quinn Ewers 54 – DJ Campbell 53 – Tre Wisner 50 – Isaiah Bond 45 – DeAndre Moore 38 – Ryan Wingo 31 – Jaydon Blue 27 – Juan Davis 26 – Cole Hutson 11 – Arch Manning 4 – Ryan Niblett 1 – Silas Bolden – This is the first time this season Gunnar Helm has played every single snap in a game. – No snaps for Jerrick Gibson, Johntay Cook and only one for Silas Bolden. – 50 snaps for Isaiah Bond on a bum ankle. – DJ Campbell gets 67.5% of the snaps at RG, about what we have seen so far this season.

Let's get to it. Texas faces off with Vanderbilt this weekend and sits No. 5 in the latest AP Top 25.

5-star LB Tyler Atkinson post visit update The Grayson (Ga.) High 2026 5-star linebacker had a tremendous visit to Texas the last two days. Atkinson spent a considerable amount of 1-on-1 time with Johnny Nansen despite Texas having a huge game. Atkinson, 6-3 and 210, also spent time talking with Longhorn legend Derrick Johnson. They talked about being a moveable chess piece at the LB position, and how he could do that at Texas. Atkinson and family told OTF that they were impressed with the Texas defense. The fight Texas showed impressed. The city of Austin also has a real appeal for the Atlanta area 5-star in 2026. OTF expects Atkinson to come back for a visit in January or the spring, and a June OV. On the Georgia side, the Bulldogs are telling him that he will be used exactly like Jalon Walker.

A source tells me the initial diagnosis on DB Andrew Mukuba indicates just a sprain. We will hear from HC Steve Sarkisian on Monday, but this is great news for Texas and the DB room after losing DB Derek Williams for the year last week.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is on the podium for the postgame press conference following the Georgia victory over Texas in Austin. Lots to follow with notes and quotes in the comments below. Texas heads to Nashville next week to play Vanderbilt.

It has been mentioned here on OTF throughout the week, but has reached Matt Zenitz at ESPN. Georgia All-American RG Tate Ratledge will go through warmups dressed out but probability to see the field remains slim.

OTF currently expects two 2025 prospects committed elsewhere to be at the game tonight.

No real changes on the availability report except for one — Texas WR Isaiah Bond has been upgraded to Probable.