Texas finally decided to wake up. The No. 20 Longhorns undeniably dominated the No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores in the first half of the SEC showdown, but head coach Steve Sarkisian wasn't entirely satisfied.
Even with a 24-10 lead as the two teams headed to the locker rooms, Sarkisian wanted the Horns' lead to be bigger, upset by the singular touchdown that Vanderbilt was able to pull off.
After a timeout, the Longhorns didn't look settled on the defensive line, and the Commodores were able to score a seemingly easy 18-yard touchdown pass. On the sidelines, Sarkisian looked like he was about to blow a gasket.
"Well, we can’t have a miscommunication coming out of a timeout," Sarkisian said. "They might have scored, they might not have, but it shouldn’t have been that easy."
Texas offense finally matches dominant defense
The Longhorns have had one of the best defenses in the country this season, and finally, the offense matched the dominance.
It felt like for every tackle linebacker Colin Simmons or defensive back Jaylon Guilbeau brought down, quarterback Arch Manning was ready to respond with a flawless pass, or running back Quintrevion Wisner was ready to burst through the line of scrimmage.
"He’s playing really efficiently," Sarkisian said of Manning's first-half performance. "He’s getting completions when they’re there. I think he's going through his progressions really well."
Manning amassed 200 passing yards alongside the 49 rushing yards that he and the running back room accounted for. The defense earned a resounding 34 tackles in the first half, including five tackles for loss and three sacks.
All season, Vanderbilt had given up just seven sacks. After the first thirty minutes, it looked like Texas would be able to double that stat.
Also read: Ryan Wingo hits the injury tent during dominant first half versus Vanderbilt
While the Longhorns were favored in the top-20 matchup, people were truly starting to question what was going on with the football team in Austin. That first half performance, on both sides of the ball, silenced those questions.