Texas probably didn\u2019t need the commissioner to ratchet up the intensity against Texas Tech (6-6, 5-4).\u00a0 The teams have played every year since 1960 and the first matchup was in 1928.\u00a0 Texas rumbled into the final game with their rivals like a team on a vendetta.<\/p>\n
Auburn On Fire<\/h3>\n
At the risk of being redundant, give it up for Bert Auburn<\/a>.\u00a0 When Texas flexes its muscles on special teams, the junior kicker is usually the story.\u00a0 The hottest kicker in the NCAA the last two weeks, Auburn was perfect against Texas Tech, nailing five field goals including a career-high 54-yarder.<\/p>\n Auburn has converted 19 straight field goals and has not missed since the Kansas game in late September.\u00a0 He has hit 28 of 33 attempts this season but was left off the list of semifinalists for the 2023 Lou Groza Award.\u00a0 He now owns the Texas single-season record for field goals with two games still to play.<\/p>\n Tech quarterback Behren Morton\u2019s<\/strong> 2-yard touchdown run was the lone highlight for the visitors.\u00a0 Texas only sacked Morton twice but held him to 88 yards through the air on 19 of 36 passing.\u00a0 The Longhorns harassed the besieged sophomore into throwing three interceptions.<\/p>\n Tahj Brooks<\/strong> came into the game as the best Big 12 running back not named Ollie Gordon<\/strong>.\u00a0 Brooks churned out 100 yards on 19 carries, but the Longhorns were so dominant that it didn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 Brooks\u2019 longest play from scrimmage was a 25-yard run.\u00a0 There was nobody to pick up the slack for the Red Raiders.\u00a0 Their top receiver was Coy Eakin<\/strong> with four catches for 27 yards.<\/p>\n As impressive as it looks when Texas flexes, it has rarely done so for an entire game this season.\u00a0 The Longhorns\u2019 most complete performances were a 35-6 win over BYU and a 38-6 takedown of Baylor. \u00a0The 40-14 blowout of Kansas looked good on paper, but Texas only led 13-7 at halftime.\u00a0 Texas\u2019 penchant for ugly, inconsistent performances kept many of the young prospects on the bench.<\/p>\n That changed against Texas Tech.\u00a0 Jaydon Blue<\/a> rushed 10 times for 121 yards and a touchdown.\u00a0 The sophomore has staked his claim as another viable option to fill in for the injured Jonathan Brooks.\u00a0 True freshman Quintrevion Wisner<\/strong> had seven carries for 60 yards and a touchdown.\u00a0 Even with the injury to Brooks, Texas has one of the deepest running backs<\/a> rooms in the nation.\u00a0 But the biggest name of the freshman class this year has been quarterback Arch Manning<\/strong>, who finally made his Longhorns debut.\u00a0 He completed 2 of 5 passes for 30 yards and rushed three times for 17 yards.<\/p>\n Texas was penalized nine times for 69 yards.\u00a0 Maalik Murphy<\/a> suffered a freak injury on the sidelines while not playing and left the field in the second half.\u00a0 Quinn Ewers<\/a> threw an interception, his fifth of the season.<\/p>\n That\u2019s about it as far as negatives go for the Longhorns.\u00a0 The Big 12 belongs to the Longhorns when Texas flexes like it did against Tech.\u00a0 There\u2019s still plenty for Head Coach Steve Sarkisian<\/strong> to focus on while preparing for the Big 12 title game.\u00a0 The Longhorns converted just 3 of 11 third-down attempts, for example.\u00a0 They need to cut down on the penalties with a championship game next week and a big bowl game on the horizon.<\/p>\n Even a win in the Big 12 Championship does not guarantee Texas a spot in the College Football Playoff.\u00a0 The Longhorns desperately need a good deal of help to move up from their current no. 7 CFP ranking.\u00a0 But the goal heading into this season was to play for a Big 12 title.\u00a0 They kept their foot on the gas all season and accomplished that goal.<\/p>\n Texas is most likely headed to the Cotton Bowl without the help it needs from other teams.\u00a0 The Longhorns have not played in that game since the 2002 season.\u00a0 It would be a fitting way for them to finish their final year in the Big 12.\u00a0 The 2023 Longhorns have elevated the program by leaps and bounds above the Alamo Bowl, which Texas played in after the 2022, 2020, and 2019 seasons.\u00a0 Texas flexes an 11-1 record and is basking in its best season since 2009 when it went 13-1 and lost to Alabama in the National Championship.\u00a0 The Longhorns can duplicate that record and have a full head of steam heading into next year\u2019s SEC schedule.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Big 12 teams have proven to be no match this season when Texas flexes the way it did in a 57-7 blowout over Texas Tech.\u00a0 The Longhorns put together a complete game in the regular-season conference finale and dominated from start to finish. \u00a0Texas pulverized the Red Raiders in the Yormark Bowl and booked its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4486,"featured_media":55402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,35576],"tags":[10545,9728,9128,32787,5095,204],"class_list":["post-55392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-big12","category-texas-longhorns","tag-2023-big-12-football","tag-arch-manning","tag-brett-yormark","tag-quintrevion-wisner","tag-steve-sarkisian","tag-texas-longhorns"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4486"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79459,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55392\/revisions\/79459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Texas Flexes on Defense<\/h3>\n
Break Out The Young Guns<\/h3>\n
The Grey Lining<\/h3>\n
What\u2019s Next?<\/h3>\n
![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/USATSI_21968601_168400536_lowres-300x200.jpg\")