No. 3 Texas football finished its last home game of the season, rising above Kentucky in a 31-14 win with an offensive momentum that fell flat in the second half.
Ultimately, Texas got away with a few sloppy mistakes in the first half, but rather than improving upon them, the team fell further in the second half while Kentucky took advantage. For instance, a knocked ball out of junior quarterback Quinn Ewers’ hand led to an easy walk-in touchdown from Kentucky senior linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson.
“I thought our guys played tremendous,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “And then in the third quarter, it was like we just couldn’t hold on to the ball. We need to address that aspect of our game, but I thought the response, offensively, (was) there in the fourth quarter.”
The start of the game was promising for the Longhorns. In the first drive of the game, the team, led by Ewers, made first down after first down, with three of them coming from completed passes to junior wide receiver Matthew Golden. Ewers, then, scrambled and found senior tight end Gunnar Helm wide open in the endzone within the first five minutes of play.
Golden and Helm went on to have a significant rest of the game leading the team with 86 and 51 receiving yards, respectively, and Helm holding the two touchdowns.
After the initial first drive, Ewers struggled to convert more points and complete deep passes. Out of his numerous deep ball attempts, Ewers’ furthest throw was 20 yards to Golden.
Though the specific play was not confirmed, Ewers suffered an ankle injury from sliding that became apparent with a limp. Rather than Sarkisian taking him out, he emphasized the run game. In the fourth, the Longhorns came back with 15 plays, all runs, for 85 yards giving them a touchdown.
The Longhorns offense once again fell back on a safe bet: its run game. The running back duo of junior Jaydon Blue and sophomore Quintrevion Wisner had 96 and 158 rushing yards, respectively, and one touchdown each. This was a career-high rushing yards for Wisner, and Sarkisian said he was one of the strongest players on the field, even going as far as comparing him to a Brillo pad.
Wisner agrees that he is tough and for that, he thanks his mother.
“My mom taught me a lot of things about toughness,” Wisner said. “And it just goes a long way, to me, having a little brother and sister. I had to be tough for them.
While the offense prevailed in the end, the star of this matchup continues to be Texas’s defense. The defense gave up a mere seven points in the second quarter, with the other seven coming off the third-quarter fumble. The defense shut down most of the passing game; however, Kentucky’s deep balls were successful with more than one 40-yard throw by Kentucky junior quarterback Brock Vandagriff and backup freshman Cutter Boley.
Texas registered an impressive six sacks and 11 tackles for loss. Sophomore linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. led the team with 10 tackles, six solo and two sacks. One of Hill’s sacks came at a crucial point where Kentucky was one yard from the goal on third down.
This win sits Texas as 10-1 on the season, dubbing the program a back-to-back 10-win team. However, with the chances of a postseason run still up in the air, Sarkisian said for the rest of the season he is only looking at the things the team can control.
“What I do know is we can control that narrative,” Sarkisian said. “If we can go handle our business here in the next week, and if we can do that the next week. It’s a lot easier when you fate out of somebody else’s hands and put it in your own. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
