Casting the entire football world as doubting the ability of the No. 7 Texas Longhorns to go into Columbia and beat the No. 18 Missouri Tigers is a real stretch, but it was much more believable when head coach Steve Sarkisian lauded the undeniable toughness of his football team after securing a fourth ranked win this season as the Longhorns navigate a nine-game SEC schedule for the first time.
“The DNA of this organization is mental and physical toughness and I think that poured out of our pores today
in this ball game,” Sarkisian said.
Now through the fifth game in the eight-game stretch without a bye week to end the regular season, Texas is banged up, playing without three key starters and receiving just 18 snaps from star edge Colin Simmons in his return from a high ankle sprain.
“If you’d have told me we walk in here without Trevor Goosby, without Cam Coleman, and a very limited Colin Simmons, with some other banged up receivers — by the way, those other three are probably going to go in the top 15 picks of the draft — I don’t know how many other teams could do that,” Sarkisian said.
Texas did it largely by relying on the depth accumulated through years of highly-ranked recruiting classes, as well as key transfer portal additions stepping forward, like running back Raleek Brown, who caught the go-ahead touchdown pass on a wheel route and put the game away with his eight-yard rushing touchdown with 1:25 remaining.
Of the 101 rushing yards gained by the three Texas running backs who played, Brown notched 86 yards on 17 carries. And while he didn’t break any runs longer than 13 yards, that was a credit to some solid situational tackling by Missouri more than the regular busts in execution and assignment from Kyle Flood’s offensive line, which somewhat steadied itself on Saturday.
“One thing about Raleek, he might not be the biggest guy in stature, but he’s got a huge heart,” Sarkisian said. “This guy’s a very prideful player. He plays hard. He provides a ton of energy, not just to the offense, but the entire team.”
At wide receiver, Emmett Mosley V led the Longhorns with 85 receiving yards on five catches. Missouri played more zone defense than expected, and Mosley kept the Texas offense moving by regularly finding holes in it, affording quarterback Arch Manning the type of intermediate throws that tend not to suffer from his inconsistencies.
Next to Mosley, who played every snap, St. Louis product Ryan Wingo was a warrior next to him for 71 all plays even though he practiced minimally on Thursday before participating in the Friday walkthrough. Wingo notched six catches for 52 yards and one carry for six yards.
“I’m really happy for Ryan — I know Ryan wanted this game and he wanted to play in the game. Like I said, he was not 100 percent, but he made some really critical plays for us today,” Sarkisian said.
“We’ve got to get him healthier again for next week. So happy for him, happy for his family. I know this game meant a lot to him,” Sarkisian said.
Defensively, more players had to emerge with the prevalence of injuries.
Because Simmons was limited, other edge players had to step up, including senior Colton Vasek, who battled shoulder injuries throughout his career. Over the last three games, Vasek has played half of his season total of snaps, recording four tackles (two solo) and coming up with a big sack in his 18 snaps against the Tigers.
While nickel back Graceson Littleton was able to battle through 51 snaps after he was listed as questionable on the early injury reports, cornerback Kade Phillips played 33 snaps, showing some toughness of his own — Phillips was targeted three times in coverage, but didn’t give up a reception.
Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp leaned on cornerback Warren Roberson to handle the snaps that Littleton and Phillips missed. As Roberson received his first career start, Missouri predictably targeted the inconsistent senior regularly, but beyond a pass-interference penalty on the first drive, Roberson mostly held up well.
Tigers quarterback Austin Simmons targeted Roberson on 21 percent of his pass attempts, including nearly a quarter of the throws that Pro Football Focus tracked as targeting a specific player in coverage. Normally an efficient passing offense, Missouri completed three passes for 35 yards on the nine throws with Roberson in coverage, 3.9 yards per attempt.
By itself, Roberson’s coverage success made it his best performance at Texas, ultimately magnified by his crunching hit on Cayden Lee that caused the fumble returned by Littleton to the goal line that set up Brown’s game-sealing touchdown run.
“Guys have to step up — that’s the nature of the beast, but like I told the team last night, we don’t recruit really well around here for fun. It’s not for Signing Day. It’s for moments like this that we can have quality people that we trust that can go in and play,” Sarkisian said.
The Texas head coach made changes to his culture-building approach this offseason, starting Culture Wednesdays during the spring instead of the summer to reflect the reality that the vast majority of incoming players now arrive in January.
Now that’s paying off, in Sarkisian’s estimation.
“This team gets tighter — the more adversity we get, the tighter we get. I think it’s a cultural thing, I think it’s a toughness thing, and I think it’s a leadership thing. I’m proud of our coaches. I’m proud of the the leaders on this team to galvanize everybody three weeks ago or so to continue to fight back,” Sarkisian said.
After the home loss to Florida marked back-to-back defeats against unranked opponents, the Longhorns were reeling, with questions about Sarkisian’s role as the offensive play caller, the role of Jeff Banks as the special teams coordinator, and the role of starting quarterback Arch Manning, embattled after game-changing turnovers.
Manning in particular has raised his level of play, going two games without throwing an interception and operating without the hesitancy that characterized his indecisive performance against Florida.
And Sarkisian has made some adjustments to the offense by relying less on shot plays, going back to the running back screen game, and generally calling more quick passes to get the ball out of Manning’s hand before the protection breaks down.
Right now, with one of the best resumes in the country, the Longhorns are survivors. Challenges remain, starting with next week’s trip to Death Valley to face the Tigers, but over the last three games, Texas has found ways to win again.
“We knew it was going to be a long season. The season wasn’t over. It was going to be a long season, and it’s not over today,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve got more games to go play. We’ve got another tough one next week, but we’re going to surely enjoy this one for the for for next eight 16 or so hours.”
