Young escapes the rush for a big first down. There is a time and a place for this.
In the past, any celebration of moral victories for the Texas Longhorns would be met with a syrupy "blessings your heart" in Austin.
The program with the fourth-most victories is not at Texas.
There was a funny thing that happened after the 20-19 loss to Alabama. The burnt orange faithful were able to see the bigger picture.
It conjured up haunting images for Longhorns fans of quarterback Colt McCoy's injury on the sixth play of the 2010 national title game against the Tide. Hudson Card, who came on in relief of Ewers, injured his ankle so badly that the game plan had to be changed to protect him. Bijan Robinson was taken away by Alabama for a long time.
After taking a big hit, Ewers left the game.
At the end of the game, the Longhorns went to the wire against the Tide, but maybe only because of a "Houdini act" by Young. He escaped a sack when he ducked under a defensive back and ran 20 yards to the Longhorns' 17-yard line, setting up the game-winning field goal four plays later.
Nobody was happy about the result, which was a loss. The Longhorns were the best team on the field on Saturday, but still came up short. There weren't many heads hanging by those wearing burnt orange.
Most of the record crowd stayed behind to sing "The Eyes of Texas" after the game. They were also deserving of a bow. The reputation of Texas crowds is that they don't get rowdy. The fans got a piece of the blame for Alabama's 15 penalties for 100 yards that were the most in the history of the program.
NEW RECORD ATTENDANCE: 105,213 #HOOKEM 🤘 pic.twitter.com/ppupsZdTZH
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 10, 2022
The Texas team that closed as a 21.5-point favorite was the largest point spread for a game in Austin since 1978 and lost by a single point.
It's possible that this is the rare loss that gives a team confidence and a boost.
The best team in the country is that team. We feel pretty good about ourselves and where we are in the program.
There were a lot of questions on whether Texas was ready for a move to the SEC after the Longhorns' 5-7 season, which began with snatching defeat from the jaws of victory against Oklahoma and ended with a shocking home loss to Kansas.
He likened the game to an SEC game on the road. They would be in the top half of the league if they were in the SEC right now.
It's possible that a coach said nice things about a former assistant. He said the performance was a preview of the Texas SEC game.
"That is what it looks like," he said. There are a lot of fast people in it. It takes that sort of thing.
The Longhorns' defensive line pushed the Alabama offensive line around all day, with the Longhorns' defense finishing 99th nationally. The Alabama running backs carried the ball 17 times for 123 yards, with 81 of those coming on a touchdown run by Jase McClellan. Alabama punted on six straight drives and did not score again until the fourth quarter.
The big boys up front were giving the big boys a hard time.
Robinson, the focus of Alabama's defense, was held to 57 yards on 21 carries, an average of just 2.7 yards per rush, but added a career-high 73 receiving yards.
Robinson said that people's eyes showed that they didn't come out with a victory. We aren't the team that will back down. Throughout the entire season, we're going to bring the fight. We are prepared to go against anyone.
After losing a double-digit lead to Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl, the Longhorns went on to lose their next five games. The team was different according to the coach.
Keondre Coburn is a fifth-year senior defensive lineman who draws a lot of attention on and off the field. He saw the big picture after starting 34 games for the Longhorns.
He has been here for five years and has never seen the team grind harder. We didn't play our best game. We didn't get the job done, that's frustrating. There are so many things we can look forward to.
Cook is a senior defensive back.
He said that they learned something about themselves. We are going to use this as a launching point for the remainder of the season.
The Longhorns will be tested by the UTSA team on Saturday. With Ewers out at least a month with a shoulder injury, that will be tested even more.
Coburn said he was going to zero in on the one-week-at-a-time philosophy preached to him by his coaches. He couldn't help but think bigger after helping to push the Alabama team around.
The team that lost to Alabama avenged it.
The boys were told that this was just one game. Georgia won a title. We have a chance to see those people again.
All we have to do is do well.
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