As the Texas offense finally found its footing against Power Conference opponents, the Longhorns' defense continued to excel, dominating the Vanderbilt Commodores at the line of scrimmage and taking down quarterback Diego Pavia on numerous occasions.
Heading into the game, Vanderbilt had given up just seven sacks all season. The Horns nearly doubled that, earning six sacks on Pavia.
Simply put, the recipe that Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski cooked up was exactly what the defense needed to halt the Commodore offense as often as possible.
Vandy offensive scheme was useless against Longhorns
Pavia and the 'Dores had been dominant through almost all of their first eight games, only struggling to find their footing against the Alabama Crimson Tide before coming to Austin. Ignoring the surge that Vanderbilt had in the fourth quarter, the team's offensive style of play simply didn't work against the Horns.
Vandy offensive coordinator Tim Beck relies almost entirely on misdirection. Kwiatkowski and the Longhorns almost exclusively play a "see-ball, hit-ball" style of defense.
To put it in layman's terms, the trickery of Vanderbilt's offense was never going to fly against Texas's elite defensive unit.
With 10 tackles for loss, the six sacks, two pass deflections, and one fumble recovery, the Longhorns were seemingly everywhere on defense, and it truly overwhelmed Pavia, his O-Line, and the rest of the Vanderbilt offense.
Diego Pavia did this less than 2 weeks ago
— Nick Perkins (@NickyPerkss) November 1, 2025
Vanderbilt is officially back to being the laughing stock of the SEC pic.twitter.com/W7d8rYBhZL
Those 10 TFLs and six sacks accounted for 91 loss yards by the Commodores, not to mention that Pavia was pressured on 42 percent of his drop-backs, leading to a 45.5 percent completion rate when he felt the heat.
As the Longhorns turn their attention to the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs, who they will face in Week 13 after enjoying a weekend off, the team will have to continue applying pressure at the line of scrimmage (on both sides of the ball).
While kickoff time and the broadcast network for the big-time SEC matchup between Texas and Georgia have yet to be determined, fans can be sure that they will kick off on Saturday, Nov. 15, in Athens, GA.