Texas Football: 5 overreactions from Longhorns colossal win over Bama

The biggest win of Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian’s career as a college coach arrived on Sep. 9 when his squad downed head coach Nick Saban and the No. 3 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide on the road in Tuscaloosa. Texas got the job done in the bright spotlight of primetime television in a top-15 matchup under the lights at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Sark and the Longhorns downed Saban and the Crimson Tide this weekend by the final score of 34-24. Texas looked like the better team most of this game, especially in the fourth quarter. This was the best Sark’s teams have played in the fourth quarter since he arrived at Texas a couple of years ago.

Thanks to some Longhorns ‘ miscues in the third quarter, Texas outscored Alabama 21-8 in the fourth quarter after the Tide brought the game within one possession.

Texas was firing on all cylinders when it mattered most down the stretch in this game. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers delivered big plays at critical points of this game in the second half. And the defense stepped up on the last couple of drives in the fourth quarter.

Texas’ defense held the Tide to the single digits in rushing yards in the second half. The offensive line also held up its end of the bargain, not allowing a single sack on Ewers in this game.

Overreactions from Texas football’s massive Week 2 win over Alabama on the road

Here’s a look at five overreactions from Texas’ mammoth 10-point win over Alabama on the road on Sep. 9.

Anthony Hill Jr. and Ethan Burke will solve Texas’ pass rush woes

One of the most pleasant surprises that emerged for Texas’ defense in the win over Alabama on Sep. 9 was the play of sophomore edge rusher Ethan Burke and true freshman linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. in the pass rush. Burke and Hill combined for three sacks, two QB hits, and eight quarterback pressures against quarterback Jalen Milroe and the Tide.

Hill and Burke combined to register more than half of Texas’ five sacks of Alabama’s Milroe in this game. It’s crazy that Texas outperformed Alabama in the pass rush to the extent they did this weekend. Texas had five sacks on Alabama, while Ewers wasn’t brought to the ground once for a sack by the Tide defense.

This is the type of pass rusher performance Texas needed out of these young guys up front this season. We just didn’t expect Hill and Burke to emerge this early in their time as starters and/or key contributors along the defensive front.

Hill was an issue for Alabama, coming off the edge on a few designed blitz plays. He exploited the young Alabama starting left tackle, true freshman Kadyn Proctor, for two sacks coming off the edge.

Meanwhile, Burke utilized his length well and was relentless in the pass rush and run defense.

Hill and Burke put the Big 12 on notice this fall and the SEC in the future that they’re a force to be reckoned with in the pass rush. Pete Kwiatkowski and the Longhorns could’ve found the answer for their pass rush woes this defense experienced the last two seasons.