The No. 1 Texas Longhorns pieced together a win against the UTSA Road Runners, but it was anything but a pretty performance by the supposed top team in the country.
Inaccurate passes, a plethora of penalties, points left on the field, and a sense of sloppiness overshadowed the fact that the Horns earned a double-digit win.
So, while there were definitely a few winners (including Texas as a whole since it improved to 3-0), there were also a few losers in the Longhorns' 30-6 win in the third game of the year.
WINNER: Will Muschamp’s 3rd-down defense
Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp has gotten his unit exactly where it needs to be: dominating in the trenches.
The Horns held the Roadrunners to just six points, but the biggest takeaway was how well the defense held up on UTSA's third-down efforts. The Roadrunners went 1-of-11 on third down, struggling to find any consistency on offense when it mattered most.
Additionally, UTSA was only able to earn 142 yards in the matchup as quarterback Owen McCown went just 14-of-23 for 70 yards, one interception, and zero touchdowns.
"I thought we played great defense," head coach Steve Sarkisian said after the game.
Loser: Arch Manning, his O-Line, and his receivers
After such an incredible fourth-quarter performance against the Ohio State Buckeyes in Week 2, the expectations were high for quarterback Arch Manning and the Texas offense.
To put it lightly, they fell well short of those expectations.
The offensive line struggled to provide any real protection for Manning in the backfield, the Horns' QB1 repeatedly threw the ball way off target when trying to connect with his receivers, and the entire squad looked almost uninspired when they took the field.
Manning combined with running backs Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown for nearly 150 rushing yards, but the offense was far from where it needs to be with Texas's SEC schedule kicking off next week.
WINNER: Freshmen Jermaine Bishop, Derrek Cooper, Michael Terry III
While playing the Roadrunners, Sarkisian tapped into his depth, rotating in quite a few true freshmen throughout the game.
That paid off big time for standouts like running back Derrek Cooper, who was coming off an injury, running back Michael Terry III, who was initially reported as not dressing for the team ahead of kickoff, and wide receiver Jermaine Bishop.
Cooper earned 44 rushing yards and scored his first career touchdown in the fourth quarter, marking the true start of his promising career at Texas. Terry earned 39 yards on the ground as he and backup QB KJ Lacey took over the backfield.
Bishop, who entered the week with just 25 receiving yards to his name, earned 22 yards through the air, including a 15-yard reception for his career high.
Loser: The entire team's discipline
In a game that was plagued by penalties on both sides of the ball, the Longhorns appeared to see their flag-worthy tendencies return.
The Horns were called for eight penalties, losing 88 yards because of it, in a complete lack of the discipline that the team had shown in the first two games of the year. Texas entered the Week 3 matchup with just six penalties for 47 yards against them in the first two games.
In 2025, the Horns were called for 108 penalties, losing 906 yards, which ranked 132nd in the FBS. After the Ohio State game, Texas's six penalties ranked fourth nationally, a massive nod to the poise Sarkisian had instilled in his team.
That poise and discipline seemingly vanished in Week 3, and those two characteristics must come back before the Longhorns kick off SEC play next weekend.
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