4 big overreactions after Texas's rout of Florida

It was an absolute dismantling of the Florida Gators by No. 5 ranked Texas football at home, by a score of 49-17, on Nov. 9. Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian clearly benefitted from getting the bye week last week, making good use to the extra time to rest up and prepare for a Florida squad that was overmatched on both sides of the ball in Week 11.

Texas football dominates Florida in multiple phases in a 49-17 Week 11 victory

Not only were the Longhorns healthier and well-rested coming out of the bye week against the Gators, but the team also looked prepared for anything head coach Billy Napier and the Gators threw at them this weekend. Texas pretty much cooked Florida on both sides of the ball from the very start of this game, jumping out to a huge 35-0 lead by the end of the first half.

Going into the locker room at halftime with such a large lead over the Gators allowed the Longhorns to get some younger players valuable live-game SEC reps late in the regular season.

The 49-17 win over Florida, combined with some other losses around the SEC this weekend, gives the Longhorns a pretty direct path to the SEC Championship Game.

Here are four big overreactions after Texas's blowout win over Florida in Week 11.

Jerrick Gibson leads Texas in broken tackles by the end of the season

True freshman running back Jerrick Gibson was given the biggest workload of his young career for the Longhorns this weekend in the win over Florida. Gibson rushed for triple-digit yards for the first time in his collegiate career, rushing for 100 yards on 16 carries (6.3 yards per carry) and one rushing touchdown.

Gibson didn't start the game, but he ended up making the biggest contributions to the Texas ground game of any of the three running backs who got regular carries on Saturday against Florida. Sarkisian and the Longhorns trusted Gibson with some big carries early in this game, including a bold fourth-down conversion in Texas's own territory that he picked up the first down.

Later on for that same drive where Gibson and the Longhorns converted on fourth-and-short in their own territory, Texas got in the end zone for the game's first touchdown.

Gibson showed in this game why he is trusted as Texas's best between-the-tackles running back who can power through contact for valuable YAC in those tough areas through the line of scrimmage.

There still needs to be some improvement from Gibson regarding his ability as a blocker and fumbling the football. Gibson had two fumbles, one of which was recovered by the Gators defense.

Texas has the best linebacker corps in the SEC

Texas's defense continues to show that it is one of the truly elite units on this side of the ball in all of college football this fall. Pete Kwiatkowski and the Longhorns lead the SEC in total defense and scoring defense this season.

Against Florida, the Longhorns were extremely disruptive and forced multiple turnovers, including two interceptions and a fumble recovery.

Texas used some creative defensive fronts and different blitz looks to get pressure on Florida's quarterback and help to force the three turnovers against the Gators. This was the third game in a row where the Longhorns forced at least three turnovers.

The pass defense did great work to limit Florida and redshirt freshman quarterback Aidan Warner to just 132 passing yards and no passing touchdowns. Florida also had under 300 total yards of offense outside of garbage time possessions when Texas was up big in the second half.

Texas's linebacker corps and edge players were up to the task this weekend, contributing to two of the three turnovers the Longhorns forced yesterday. Freshman linebacker Ty'Anthony Smith continues to impress, with five combined tackles, three defensive stops, and his first career interception against the Gators.

Sophomore stud linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. had another game with over a half dozen combined tackles, multiple defensive stops, and a forced fumble. Hill has forced a fumble in three of the past four games. He leads the team in combined tackles (66), tackles for loss (11.0), sacks (5.5), and forced fumbles (three).

Between the play of Hill and Smith against Florida, it's clear to see that the now and future of Texas's linebacker room is in great shape in the SEC.

Quinn Ewers is on the path to being a top 10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft

By the end of the first half, quarterback Quinn Ewers already had over 250 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, and no interceptions. Ewers took advantage of a good first-half offensive gamplan from Sarkisian and the bye week to prepare for Florida (not to mention getting Isaiah Bond back from a lower-body injury).

Ewers and the Longhorns had one of their best starts on the offensive side of the ball of the regular season in SEC conference play for this campaign. Texas scored multiple touchdowns in each of the game's first two quarters, mostly from passing touchdowns from Ewers to his multiple talented skill players in the receiving corps and out of the backfield.

It's crazy to think that Ewers could've have an even bigger day had it not been for a couple of drops from sophomore wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr.

After an opening drive to the first quarter where the Longhorns drove the field over 40 yards and wound up missing a long field goal attempt, Texas's offense was completely dominant. Texas aired it out all over the Florida defense. And the Longhorns were able to run the ball pretty effectively when they wanted to on offense.

The most important factor here was the Ewers got in a good rhythm and made the most of the plethora of weapons around him that have gotten healthier since the bye week. Ewers led Texas's offense to five touchdowns on six drives to close out the first half.

It's great to see Ewers in complete command of the offense once again. It feels like he was truly able to make a lot of progress to get his rhythm back on offense during the bye week, and it showed during the win over Florida this weekend.

Texas should be favored to win the SEC Championship

Not only are the Longhorns the highest-ranked team in the AP Poll from the SEC after Week 11, but Texas has also re-joined a top group of teams in this conference that have one loss at the top of the SEC standings.

This week was a huge success for Sarkisian and staff because it got the Longhorns a meaningful stride closer to making it to the SEC Championship Game while keeping them firmly at the top of the picture for the 12-team College Football Playoff conversation during the month of November.

Texas seems to have confidence and momentum back on its side after a few rough weeks to close out the October slate in SEC play. If the Longhorns can take care of business on the road next weekend against the rival Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville and then return home to beat a pesky Kentucky Wildcats squad in a couple of weeks, Texas will be surging heading into the Texas A&M matchup at the end of November.

What was so encouraging about this performance from the Longhorns was that this was a both-sides-of-the-ball win. Texas will thrive if it continues to operate with these complete team wins, as we saw them do in double-digit wins against teams like Florida and the Michigan Wolverines on the road in Week 2.

This type of performance against the Gators shows that the Longhorns are a Playoff-caliber team and plenty capable of winning the SEC Championship if they continue to play this way on both sides of the ball.

Check out our latest Texas football articles on Hook'em Headlines