After their Week 4 win over the No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers, the Texas Longhorns kept their No. 1 ranking in the new AP Top 25 Poll, but that was far from a guarantee after yet another shaky performance by the Horns.
- Texas Longhorns (4-0)
- Georgia Bulldogs (4-0)
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-0)
- Miami Hurricanes (4-0)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (3-1)
- Indiana Hoosiers (4-0)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (4-0)
- Florida Gators (4-0)
- Ole Miss Rebels (3-1)
- BYU Cougars (3-0)
- LSU Tigers (3-1)
- Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-0)
- Utah Utes (4-0)
- Iowa Hawkeyes (4-0)
- Oregon Ducks (3-1)
- Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-0)
- Tennessee Volunteers (3-1)
- USC Trojans (4-1)
- Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-1)
- Houston Cougars (3-1)
- SMU Mustangs (3-1)
- Boise State Broncos (3-1)
- UCLA Bruins (4-0)
- Kentucky Wildcats (3-1)
While the defense was, once again, the model of consistency and dominance, the Texas offense struggled to find any form of momentum or stability.
Yes, the Horns won the game, but the offense generated minimal production, and quarterback Arch Manning failed to find the end zone through the air on any of Texas's drives.
Meanwhile, the defense forced two turnovers on downs, amassed 10 sacks and 12 tackles for loss, and allowed just one touchdown by the Vols' offense.
In fact, since halftime of the Week 2 game against Ohio State, the Horns had gone 28 drives without allowing a touchdown until Tennessee eked one out in the fourth quarter. And when you break down the last 29 drives even further, the defensive prowess that Texas has put on display becomes that much more astonishing.
- 29 drives with just 19 points allowed (0.65 points per drive
- 1 touchdown allowed
- 3.28 yards per play allowed
Simply put, the Longhorns were not leaving Knoxville victorious without the defensive stand that we saw out of DC Will Muschamp's group, and both Manning and head coach Steve Sarkisian should thank them for letting Texas remain No. 1.
And, with their first loss of the season, the Vols dropped from No. 14 to No. 17 in the latest poll, undeniably hanging with the Horns until the very last second.
Texas continues to edge out Georgia, Notre Dame in AP Poll
While the Horns have looked relatively rocky in their first four games of the season, even though they have already earned two ranked wins, the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the nation have looked as flawless as they come.
The Georgia Bulldogs (2) and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3) have blown past their opponents, the Dawgs outscoring their first four opponents 219-53, and the Irish outscoring their first four opponents 169-33.
Meanwhile, the Horns have produced a margin of just 80 total points over the first month of the season. A margin that is only that slim because the offense has sputtered out on numerous occasions.
As the rest of the SEC season unfolds, Sarkisian is going to have to get his offensive unit in line, or the Horns are going to continue to struggle to produce scoring drives, something that is entirely unsustainable in this conference, no matter how good your defense is.
This week, Texas is on a bye, which it looks like it desperately needs after the first four games, and after that is none other than the Red River Rivalry, where the Longhorns will face one of the other most dominant defenses in the country: the Oklahoma Sooners (who have one of the few SEC offenses that may look worse than Texas's).
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