With the 31-14 win over the Kentucky Wildcats at DKR on Nov. 23, No. 3 Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian have continued their winning ways on Senior Day. Since 2021, Sarkisian and Texas are 4-0 on Senior Day, including three straight double-digit victories in regular season home finales at DKR.
Texas football moves a step closer to the SEC Championship Game and CFP after toppling Kentucky in Week 13
Not only did the Longhorns move to 4-0 on Senior Day under Sarkisian since 2021 with the 17-point victory over Kentucky yesterday, but they also reached double-digit regular season wins for the second year in a row.
Texas is 10-1 (6-1 SEC) after the win over the 4-7 (1-7 SEC) Wildcats on Nov. 23. The Senior Day win over Kentucky saw Texas's defense and ground game dominate the game. Texas rushed for a season-high 250 yards, largely thanks to a huge day from the offensive line moving Kentucky defenders off the ball at the line of scrimmage.
The Longhorns defense had another big game, holding Kentucky's offense under 250 total yards and to just 14 first downs.
Here are three big overreactions after Texas's 31-14 win in Week 13 on Senior Day over Kentucky.
Jelani McDonald is ready to become Texas's next star safety
Texas's defense won the day against a Kentucky offense that was struggling to move the chains in yesterday's 17-point win at DKR on Senior Day. The nation's No. 1 ranked unit in total defense and passing defense this season held up its end of the bargain.
Not only did the Longhorns hold Kentucky's offense to just 232 total yards of offense and 4.2 yards per play, but it also held the Wildcats' ground game to just 21 rushing yards. Texas's defense held Kentucky's rushing attack to a season-low 21 rushing yards and just 0.7 yards per carry.
Despite Kentucky boasting some solid playmakers at receiver, namely the team's leading receiver Dane Key and the speedster Barion Brown, the Longhorns didn't give the Wildcats' offense much daylight through the air. Texas intercepted more passes than Kentucky had passing touchdowns yesterday.
This is spectacular stuff from Jelani McDonald to come up with this INT. pic.twitter.com/if7Q4ztP9E
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) November 23, 2024
One of the highlight-reel plays of the win over Kentucky yesterday for Texas's secondary was a circus catch interception by sophomore safety Jelani McDonald. In the first half, McDonald came up with an amazing diving interception, wihch was the first pick of his collegiate career.
That interception from McDonald set up Texas's offense with short field position, eventually leading to a big scoring drive to establish a bigger first-half lead for the Longhorns.
Senior safety Andrew Mukuba also came up with the interception late in the game that sealed the victory for the Longhorns over Kentucky.
The level of play Texas is getting from the safety position this season, namely from the trio of Mukuba, McDonald, and redshirt junior Michael Taaffe has helped to completely turn around the fortunes of the Longhorns' secondary this fall.
Assuming Taaffe and McDonald return to Texas's secondary for the 2025 season, the safety position will be in great shape with how good the recruiting and player development has been for this unit in the past 12 months.
Arch Manning should start Texas's rivalry game vs. Texas A&M
One of the biggest storylines coming out of the win over Kentucky yesterday was the injury status for redshirt junior quarterback Quinn Ewers. In the middle of the game in yesterday's win over the Wildcats, Ewers suffered an ankle injury when he was brought down awkwardly on a short down-and-distance QB keeper run play.
Ewers was limping around on that ankle for the rest of the game.
I don't know whether Ewers' ankle injury was the only cause of his issues passing the ball in the second half, but Texas's offense was much more stagnant through the air in the second half than the first. In the game's first half, Ewers passed for 177 yards and two touchdowns on 26 pass attempts.
Ewers' passing game production fell off a cliff in the second half, completing 3-of-5 attempts for zero passing yards, no touchdowns, and a fumble that resulted in a scoop-and-score.
Orangebloods' Anwar Richardson reported on Nov. 24 that Ewers "only has a mild ankle sprain" and that he should "be good to go for Texas A&M" on Nov. 30.
There were calls yesterday for redshirt freshman Arch Manning to replace Ewers at quarterback for Texas after Quinn was limping around on that ankle in the second half against Kentucky yesterday. Sarkisian stuck with Ewers through the end of the game, which worked considering the tremendous day of production from Texas's ground game on offense.
Sarkisian has made it clear down the stretch this season that Ewers is the guy who is leading Texas's offense. But if Ewers is still dealing with lingering ankle injury issues against Texas A&M, I think it's worth considering the move to Manning if it's really impacting Ewers and the Texas offense.
Texas A&M does have a very capable defense that can get consistent pressure on the opposing team's quarterback. Something to consider against Texas A&M also is that its defense ranks in the top half of the SEC in sacks per game and in the top five in pressure rate.
Arch's mobility and deep-ball throwing ability would be helpful to giving Texas's offense more options to open up the playbook against a stout Texas A&M defensive front next weekend, if Ewers is hampered by the lower-body injury on Nov. 30.
Texas is guaranteed to make the Playoff regardless of what happens vs. Texas A&M
During Thanksgiving week, the Longhorns and Aggies will renew one of the best rivalry games in college football in the Lone Star Showdown for the first time since the 2011 season.
Since multiple other top-ranked SEC teams fell in upset losses in Week 13, the winner of the Texas-Texas A&M game next weekend will determine which team between the Longhorns and Aggies faces the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 7.
Last weekend, we saw the Florida Gators upset the No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels in a thriller at The Swamp in Gainesville. The No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide also fell short of the Oklahoma Sooners in a massive 24-3 upset in Norman on Nov. 23.
It's also noteworthy that No. 15 Texas A&M was upset by the Auburn Tigers in overtime at Jordan-Hare Stadium this weekend.
It also helps the Longhorns' College Football Playoff chances that the No. 5 Indiana Hoosiers fell to the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes decisively in a 38-15 loss in Columbus yesterday afternoon. I'd assume it won't hurt the Longhorns' Playoff odds either that the No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions barely survived an upset bid on the road in Big Ten play against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
So many two-loss teams falling to unranked foes in the SEC last weekend, along with Indiana whiffing on its chance to make a big impression on the CFP committee, really shores up Texas's chances of making the Playoff this postseason.
In a worst case scenario, if the Longhorns fall to Texas A&M in College Station next week, the ESPN Allstate playoff predictor gives Texas a minimum of an 88 percent chance of making the CFP.