The Texas Longhorns righted a quickly sinking ship with their win over the Ole Miss Rebels, having been on a two-game losing streak with both losses coming against unranked opponents.
However, the Horns cannot come anywhere close to taking their foot off the gas, because if they lose even one more game, Texas could quickly see its chance at returning to the College Football Playoff slip away.
Not to mention that even though the win was over a No. 7-ranked Ole Miss squad, it was far from a flawless victory, and the Horns still have a lot of room for improvement.
Luckily, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian clearly knows that the win over the Rebels was no reason to ease up on his team, and there is still an "all gas, no brakes" mentality on the 40 Acres:
"Now is not the time for a relief syndrome. Now is the time for a Mamba Mentality. And nobody did it better than Kobe," Sarkisian said in his Monday press conference.
Texas Longhorns are taking notes from Kobe Bryant's career
Tapping into the "Mamba Mentality" helped beloved basketball player Kobe Bryant to become one of the greatest athletes of all time. His refusal to give up (like when he shot his free-throw attempts after tearing his Achilles) is something he was known for.
Bryant orchestrated comebacks, won championships, and dominated the sport.
That's the kind of mindset that Sarkisian has to get Texas to channel over the last five games of the season. It also means instilling a sense of discipline, like the one Bryant had throughout his career, to clean up one of the biggest flaws in the Horns' game: penalties.
The Horns' leader went on to say that the team was "not perfect" and that the penalties continued to stand out as a massive issue for his squad. For reference, Texas was called for a season-high 14 penalties, resulting in the loss of 134 yards.
"It's a dangerous way to live. We've gotta clean this stuff up," Sarkisian said. "We've gotta play better, and that's the beauty in winning but not being perfect: is that I get to come in here and coach these guys on 'here's where we can even get better.'"
And there's more to cleaning up the Horns' game than just minimizing penalties. Quarterback Arch Manning, for how well he played, still had three turnovers (two interceptions and one lost fumble). The kick-return team failed to haul in an onside kick by Ole Miss despite two Texas players touching the ball.
There are still flaws to fix, but the win over the Rebels was undeniably a step in the right direction. However, as Sarkisian said, there's no cause for the Longhorns to have a "relief syndrome" quite yet.
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