AUSTIN (KXAN) – Following its ninth consecutive road victory, No. 6 Texas hopes it’s only at the halfway point of the 2024 season with the Longhorns envisioning a deep, College Football Playoff run into January.
“The goal is to be playing Jan. 20,” Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “And if you want to play on Jan. 20, you’re at minimum playing eight more games. When you look at it this way, we’re at the halfway point.”
Still, the 7-1 Longhorns have a lot to clean up as they face a challenging back half of their schedule.
In their tight victory against a ranked Vanderbilt Commodores team this past Saturday, the Longhorns racked up 10 penalties, costing them 107 yards.
While penalties never come at an ideal time, Sarkisian said the timing of those in the last game proved especially costly for the Longhorns.
On defense, a pass interference call against defensive back Malik Muhammed on a crucial 4th-and-7 play advanced the Commodores into the red zone. The drive ultimately ended in a Vanderbilt touchdown. Meanwhile, a targeting call on defensive lineman Vernon Broughton in the fourth quarter negated a Longhorn interception return for a touchdown, instead effectively halving the field for the Commodores, resulting in another touchdown drive.
“They know that they can play better than they have the past four weeks,” Sarkisian said.
However, penalties weren’t just a defensive issue. Seven of the penalties were on the offensive side of the ball. Texas’ three touchdown drives stood out as some of the few clean sequences in the game.
With blame to go around to a number of different position groups, Sarkisian recognizes it’s his job to use this bye week to cut back on those self-inflicted setbacks.
In terms of effectiveness, the game could have been a runaway, he said. But it was those six or seven penalty plays that swung the game to be closer than he and the Longhorns would’ve liked.
“I don’t know if we’re ever going to have to play a perfect game, but we’re going to have to play closer to perfect to achieve what we’d like to achieve,” Sarkisian said. “There’s nothing wrong with that as a competitor. I think our best football is ahead of us.”
The Texas Longhorns will host the Florida Gators (4-3, 2-2 SEC) on Nov. 9, at 11 a.m. Texas Gameday is the official pregame show of Texas football and will air at 10 a.m. on KBVO ahead of the game against the Gators.
