Texas left Knoxville with a win, but the box score told a louder story than the final result did. The Longhorns kept doing what they’ve done best all season on defense, yet the offense again looked out of sync, the kind of night that makes the No. 1 team in the country feel oddly fragile.
ESPN’s Chris Fowler called it a sputtering or “staling” offense during Texas’s Week 4 victory over Tennessee, and that description fit the feel of the game. With a bye week here and conference play set to resume in two weeks against Oklahoma, Steve Sarkisian and his staff have real work to do.
The most obvious issue is discipline. Texas has been one of the most penalized teams in college football since the start of the 2025 season, sitting second nationally with 133 penalties behind only Pittsburgh’s 135. Against Tennessee, that problem showed up in full force as the Longhorns were flagged 11 times and essentially gifted the Vols 115 yards on either side of the ball.
That’s not a one-game blip. It’s been a season-long trend, and it’s one that defensive coordinator Will Muschamp was supposed to help clean up.
For a stretch, it looked like Texas had tightened things up, but the issue flared again in Knoxville. With road trips still ahead to places like LSU and Texas A&M, the Longhorns can’t keep handing opponents easy yards.
Then there’s the protection up front, or lack of it. Arch Manning is at his best when he can settle in, work through his reads, and actually think through what the defense is giving him.
Tennessee didn’t allow much of that. Texas gave up six sacks and 10 tackles for loss, and the offense never really found a rhythm.
That has to change fast. Whether it’s the pass game, the run game, or the option stuff, the offensive line has to play better. Against pass-rush-heavy teams like Oklahoma, LSU, Missouri, and Texas A&M, that front has to hold up or Texas risks seeing the offense go “stale” again.
The run game is tied to all of it. Texas couldn’t consistently move Tennessee with the ground attack, and that showed up most sharply in the red zone. The only touchdown the Horns scored on the ground came when Raleek Brown punched it in.
Running the ball does more than pile up yards. It keeps drives alive and takes some of the burden off the quarterback.
Texas was without its true RB1, Hollywood Smothers, against the Vols, but 61 rushing yards won’t be enough to carry the offense for long. The contrast with the comeback win over Ohio State was hard to miss, when Smothers and Brown combined for 128 rushing yards and helped the offense settle in late.
That’s the formula Texas needs to find again: fewer penalties, better protection, and a run game that can actually tilt the field. Without that, the defense may keep the Longhorns in games, but the offense won’t be able to keep up its end.
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Florida Just Reached A Place Gators Fans Have Missed For Years
The AP Top 25 after Week 4 kept Texas right where it has been, still No. 1 with 62 first-place votes, as Georgia stayed at No. 2 and Notre Dame held No. 3. But one of the more notable shifts came a little farther down the list, where Florida climbed into the top 10 at No. 8, a spot the Gators had not occupied in five years.
For Texas, the ranking serves as another reminder that the margin for staying atop the poll is thin, with the usual heavy hitters still in close pursuit. Floridas return to that tier adds a bit more weight to the Longhorns path ahead, because every week now seems to bring another contender moving back into view. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Learned Something Important About Will Muschamps Defense In Knoxville
Texas left Knoxville with a 20-17 win built on defense, and it was the kind of performance that tells a coach a lot about his team early in the season. Tennessee never found a steady rhythm against the Longhorns, and the game turned into a field-position grind as Texas kept applying pressure and making the Vols work for every inch.
Will Muschamps unit was especially disruptive up front, and the pass rush never let Tennessee settle in. The Longhorns kept collapsing the pocket in waves, with multiple players getting involved and one standout turning in a night that will be remembered around Austin for a while, even if the full scale of it took until after the final whistle to really sink in. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Survived Tennessee Despite A Problem That Could Haunt Them
Texas came out of Knoxville with a win, but not much comfort. The Longhorns edged Tennessee 20-17 in a game that exposed the kind of offensive issues that can turn into a real problem later in the season, with Texas sputtering through stretches and getting tagged for 11 penalties and 115 yards. Even so, the defense kept the night from slipping away, harassing Tennessees freshman quarterback from start to finish and giving Texas a chance to survive a messy road test.
The pass rush was the difference, and it was relentless enough to tilt the entire game. Texas piled up 10 sacks, with Colin Simmons tying a school record by getting to the quarterback five times, a performance that masked plenty of offensive frustration elsewhere on the field. For a team still unbeaten, the bigger concern may be how much it had to lean on its defense to escape a game that stayed tense until the very end. [Read more 🡒]