Five quick thoughts: Breakout at Tuscaloosa
With a 34-24 victory in Tuscaloosa over Nick Saban’s Alabama, Texas joined the hallowed company of Louisiana-Monroe, the last team to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa in non-conference play.
Hmmm, that doesn’t seem to capture the scope of the moment.
How about this, Alabama hadn’t lost in Bryant-Denny Stadium in 21 games and the reason Louisiana-Monroe was the last team to beat Alabama when the Tide were at home was because it happened back in 2007 before Nick Saban had the machine rolling. In the 15 seasons since, no one had beaten Alabama in Tuscaloosa in a non-conference game. Texas’ win also snapped a 57-game regular season non-conference win streak for Alabama and a 21-game home winning streak. Virtually no one was beating the Tide in their own building and certainly not non-SEC teams.
Quinn Ewers was the key ingredient for Texas. The former 5-star quarterback rewarded Texas’ patience with him as a first-year starter in 2022 with a 24-38 day throwing for 349 yards at 9.2 ypa with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. The next biggest ingredient was the Longhorn defense, which held a run-centric Alabama to 107 rushing yards and picked off quarterback Jalen Milroe twice.
Whatever happens the rest of the season, this wasn’t a fluke or an unimportant win. This was likely a milestone for both programs as they progress into the young decade. Texas under younger Steve Sarkisian in year three and Alabama in year 17 with Nick Saban may have just passed each other on opposite trajectories.
Quick thought no. 1: Texas took it to Alabama
Sark came into this game looking to take swings. The Longhorns went for it on 4th down on three occasions and tried to maximize scoring opportunities early and often, which at one point appeared as though it would sink them.
Three of Texas red zone trips before the 4th quarter yielded only six points (2-for-3 on field goals there by Bert Auburn) with the Longhorns missing two different scoring chances on dropped throws. When Alabama stormed back into the game and took the lead at the end of the third quarter it appeared those missed opportunities would sink Texas.
They did not. There was plenty more in the tank for the Texas players and in Sark’s play-calling bag.
Texas four possessions in the fourth quarter went as follows:
Three plays, 75 yards, touchdown.One play, five yards, touchdown (cap tip Jerrin Thompson).Seven plays, 75 yards, touchdown.12 plays, 34 yards, victory formation.
The Longhorns rolled up 454 yards of offense, caught up to Alabama with 105 total rushing yards, and took the air out of Bryant-Denny Stadium in the fourth quarter.
Quick thought no. 2: Ewers realized
The gameplan for Texas was exactly what it needed to be in order to win a road game against a big, hefty defense with a reputation for hard-nosed, physical play.
They spread Alabama out and threw the dang ball up and down the field. Ewers was tasked with connecting on RPOs (such as Adonai Mitchell‘s first touchdown), quick game concepts throwing out to the flats, play-action shots down the field (finally connected with Xavier Worthy!), scripted hits on screens and misdirection throws, and some NFL-style dropback passing including some big hits to Jordan Whittington and the dagger throw over the top to Mitchell.
A lot of people get credit when a team throws the ball around like Texas did in this game. The offensive line protected extremely well despite making several substitutions, yielding zero sacks to a vaunted Tide pass-rush. Casey Cain got snaps and made some good blocks on the perimeter to boost the Texas screen game. Texas’ receivers got open consistently against the Tide defenders, which of all the difficult tasks executed on the night was not the least. Terrion Arnold is a very well regarded cornerback and he drew two different defensive pass interference calls. Tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders built on his case as a 2024 NFL draft.
But ultimately you run that gameplan when you feel good about what you have at quarterback and you win on the road against Alabama by throwing the ball when your quarterback plays a whale of a game. Ewers was calm and collected for the vast majority of the game, stepped into several throws, and was generally in command of the game.
The last time I remember a Texas quarterback making a stride like that in a big time college football atmosphere on the road and winning with his arm, it lead to big things for that player and the program.
Quick thought no. 3: Texas Edges…not a team weakness
Remember when Texas’ play at the essential Edge positions in Pete Kwiatkowski’s 2-4-5 defense was considered one of the bigger questions marks for Texas in the 2023 season? God knows it was an issue in 2021 and 2022.
Ethan Burke sacked Milroe once and pressured him consistently, Anthony Hill sacked him twice while playing Burke’s position on 3rd down, and the Longhorns rotated multiple players at either position while inflicting five total sacks on the Alabama passing game.
Their various Edges also accumulated four total tackles for loss and put together quite the game in containing the Alabama option run game and forcing (along with Ewers’ scoring) the Tide to ask Milroe to drop back to throw on 30+ of their 62 total plays. Milroe ended up playing hero-ball with 27 pass attempts and 15 carries.
That’s not how Alabama wanted to play this game. Relying on the play-making and decision-making of a first-year starting quarterback while their running backs accumulated only 20 total carries which yielded 63 total yards at 3.2 ypc.
The Longhorns effectively contained the Tide offense with their Edges and really harassed Milroe in his drop backs.
Quick thought no. 4: Texas won in the trenches where it mattered
Let’s revisit that earlier stat. Alabama’s running backs carried the ball 20 times in this game for 63 total yards at 3.2 ypc and zero touchdowns.
It was always a possible outcome. The Longhorns are fierce and deep at defensive tackle and much improved at linebacker with senior Jaylan Ford and a cast of hard-hitting safeties lead by leading tackler Jalen Catalon (seven total, one tackle for loss). Alabama looked to impose their will early in the run game with bigger sets and runs behind the big, veteran right side of their line but Texas made some adjustments and played bigger sets with Alfred Collins and others at defensive end and took it away.
The left side of the Alabama line was decidedly trounced by the Longhorns. Texas won this matchup big and didn’t allow the Tide to muscle them as Arkansas had done back in 2021.
Texas’ offensive line didn’t really bully the Alabama defensive line either, but in the fourth quarter they punched in a run from five out to Jonathon Brooks and ran the ball nine straight times to end the fourth quarter and kept the chains moving before finishing the game with the quarterback kneel.
The Longhorns needed their O-line to do three things to win the game. Protect Quinn, avoid negative plays, and get some movement when it really mattered in short-yardage or winning time. They did exactly that with Brooks and hard-running freshman CJ Baxter getting 25 combined carries for 89 yards at 3.6 ypc and a rushing touchdown. It was all hard-earned and paid off.
Credit Sark as well for using wide receiver motions and some fancy packages with Keilan Robinson to misdirect and confuse the Tide defenders on some of Brooks’ big runs.
Quick thought no. 5: So what does it mean?
So Texas beat Alabama, snapped a big winning streak, overcame some early missed opportunities and plenty of demons and doubts…what exactly does this mean?
The ‘Horns are now 2-0 for 2023 with perhaps their easiest and their most difficult games out of the way. They’re going to get Wyoming at home in prime time next week and then the Big 12 conference schedule. A win of this magnitude puts Texas in position to compete nationally in the polls and in the playoff rankings. A loss or two in a bad Big 12 would bring them crashing back down to earth.
This game can mean as much as Texas makes of it. They should be filled with confidence in their process and talent after such a big win and carry that into the season. If they play clean, well-prepared football in their remaining contests they can win out in the regular season. The most meaningful goal from here would be to win the Big 12 Championship and say farewell to their bitter conference mates while moving on to making high profile games like tonight the new normal for Longhorn football.
A team this explosive in the passing game and physically imposing up front on defense could be a factor nationally as well in the playoff picture. We’ll see what Ewers and the Longhorns make of their opportunities but there can be no doubt this team has the world in front of them in a way we haven’t seen from a Texas team in a very long time.
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