All gas, no brakes for life, am I right?
Wow. All of that actually happened.
In what seemed like a blink of an eye, the Texas Longhorns let a huge second half lead get away from them in the fourth quarter, lost their potential All-American running back, lost its way on defense, stopped doing anything on offense and were a play away from giving TCU the ball back with a chance to tie or win the game.
So, what does Steve Sarkisian do when it's 3rd and 12 and the season might be on the line if he gives TCU the ball back?
Of course, Quinn Ewers throws deep to Adonai Mitchell for the game-clinching play.
Texas 29 TCU 26.
WTF?
Before we go any further, it needs to be said that the Longhorns are 9-1 and alone at the top of the Big 12.
That's the good part.
The bad part is this team continues to play at a level that isn't remotely close to what we saw from Alabama, Georgia and Michigan on Saturday and its been two months since we could probably safely say we've seen such a performance.
With a trip to Ames looming and Jonathon Brooks potentially out for a period of time with a worrisome knee injury, is this team treading water? Is it taking on water? It really is hard to know what to make of the 60 minutes of football we watched because there is certainly some good to take from it all, but if the bar is the elite of the elite in college football, the Longhorns aren't reaching that bar.
But, the Longhorns are without question 9-1 for the first time since 2009, which doesn't feel insignificant, even though they might not have stayed 9-1 if they hadn't completed the Ewers pass to Mitchell.
(Other thoughts on the game...)
* The injury to Brooks in the second half is just a killer. The early signs coming out of the locker room is that people are more nervous than optimistic. This team simply isn't remotely as good without him as they are with him.
* I thought it was obvious that Quinn Ewers isn't close to 100-percent based on his body language throughout the game and the fact that one of the primary goals seemed to be keeping Ewers away from any contact, no matter what. Given those circumstances, it's kind of incredible that he threw for 317 yards on Saturday night. I thought it was probably a B-level performance for Ewers, but he should be really proud of gutting out that game.
* Getting outscored 20-3 in the fourth quarter is just poor. Full stop.
* Ready or not, it's CJ Baxter's game next week. I thought he was solid as a rock tonight, but he'll have to be better than that as the lead guy.
* Xavier Worthy is some kind of player. He caught 10 passes for 137 yards and it feels like he could have had 20 catches of Sarkisian doesn't take a nap in the second half.
* All Adonai Mitchell does is make big plays.
* The Longhorns need to go get Savion Williams in the Portal. I'm serious.
* The pass protection was really good tonight, but it never quite felt like the Longhorns took control of the line of scrimmage in this game with the run game. If this happens next week in Ames, it's gonna mean trouble.
* It felt like the Texas defense mailed in the second half worse than the offense did? Did someone slip PK some gummies and he just passed out in the press box? Whatever happened, he needs to produce better results than we've seen in the second half in games against Houston, Kansas State and TCU.
* That was a borderline great half of football for the Longhorns in the first half. I'd give it an A-, which is why the things that happened in the second half were so puzzling.
* As bad as the interception by Ewers in the first quarter was, the ball he threw to Worthy on the very next throw was that good.
* T'Vondre Sweat could not be blocked by TCU in the first half. What a player he's become. Yes, he's better than 2005 Rod Wright.
* Maybe Sark learned his lesson. Just give No.24 the ball and after falling behind, he gets a 73-yard screen play from Ewers to Brooks and then a 2-yard touchdown run. It can be as simple as that.
* DO AWAY WITH THE SAVION RED PACKAGE!!!!!!
* Welcome back to relevance, Ja'Tavion Sanders. That was a fantastic first half. Too bad Sark mostly forgot about you in the second half.
* I thought TCU players were dirty all night and the tackle on Brooks looked dirty to me. The TCU player had his leg in an arm bar as they rolled over to the ground and he yanked on the leg before letting go.
* The Texas secondary.... is... not... good. Not as a group, anyways.
* Ryan Sanborn had a bad night. It happens.
* What do we think would have happened had TCU got the ball back with 2 minutes to go near midfield with a timeout to use and a field goal kicker who was apparently good from 56 yards at any point? I'm not sure I want to answer out loud.
Wow. All of that actually happened.
In what seemed like a blink of an eye, the Texas Longhorns let a huge second half lead get away from them in the fourth quarter, lost their potential All-American running back, lost its way on defense, stopped doing anything on offense and were a play away from giving TCU the ball back with a chance to tie or win the game.
So, what does Steve Sarkisian do when it's 3rd and 12 and the season might be on the line if he gives TCU the ball back?
Of course, Quinn Ewers throws deep to Adonai Mitchell for the game-clinching play.
Texas 29 TCU 26.
WTF?
Before we go any further, it needs to be said that the Longhorns are 9-1 and alone at the top of the Big 12.
That's the good part.
The bad part is this team continues to play at a level that isn't remotely close to what we saw from Alabama, Georgia and Michigan on Saturday and its been two months since we could probably safely say we've seen such a performance.
With a trip to Ames looming and Jonathon Brooks potentially out for a period of time with a worrisome knee injury, is this team treading water? Is it taking on water? It really is hard to know what to make of the 60 minutes of football we watched because there is certainly some good to take from it all, but if the bar is the elite of the elite in college football, the Longhorns aren't reaching that bar.
But, the Longhorns are without question 9-1 for the first time since 2009, which doesn't feel insignificant, even though they might not have stayed 9-1 if they hadn't completed the Ewers pass to Mitchell.
(Other thoughts on the game...)
* The injury to Brooks in the second half is just a killer. The early signs coming out of the locker room is that people are more nervous than optimistic. This team simply isn't remotely as good without him as they are with him.
* I thought it was obvious that Quinn Ewers isn't close to 100-percent based on his body language throughout the game and the fact that one of the primary goals seemed to be keeping Ewers away from any contact, no matter what. Given those circumstances, it's kind of incredible that he threw for 317 yards on Saturday night. I thought it was probably a B-level performance for Ewers, but he should be really proud of gutting out that game.
* Getting outscored 20-3 in the fourth quarter is just poor. Full stop.
* Ready or not, it's CJ Baxter's game next week. I thought he was solid as a rock tonight, but he'll have to be better than that as the lead guy.
* Xavier Worthy is some kind of player. He caught 10 passes for 137 yards and it feels like he could have had 20 catches of Sarkisian doesn't take a nap in the second half.
* All Adonai Mitchell does is make big plays.
* The Longhorns need to go get Savion Williams in the Portal. I'm serious.
* The pass protection was really good tonight, but it never quite felt like the Longhorns took control of the line of scrimmage in this game with the run game. If this happens next week in Ames, it's gonna mean trouble.
* It felt like the Texas defense mailed in the second half worse than the offense did? Did someone slip PK some gummies and he just passed out in the press box? Whatever happened, he needs to produce better results than we've seen in the second half in games against Houston, Kansas State and TCU.
* That was a borderline great half of football for the Longhorns in the first half. I'd give it an A-, which is why the things that happened in the second half were so puzzling.
* As bad as the interception by Ewers in the first quarter was, the ball he threw to Worthy on the very next throw was that good.
* T'Vondre Sweat could not be blocked by TCU in the first half. What a player he's become. Yes, he's better than 2005 Rod Wright.
* Maybe Sark learned his lesson. Just give No.24 the ball and after falling behind, he gets a 73-yard screen play from Ewers to Brooks and then a 2-yard touchdown run. It can be as simple as that.
* DO AWAY WITH THE SAVION RED PACKAGE!!!!!!
* Welcome back to relevance, Ja'Tavion Sanders. That was a fantastic first half. Too bad Sark mostly forgot about you in the second half.
* I thought TCU players were dirty all night and the tackle on Brooks looked dirty to me. The TCU player had his leg in an arm bar as they rolled over to the ground and he yanked on the leg before letting go.
* The Texas secondary.... is... not... good. Not as a group, anyways.
* Ryan Sanborn had a bad night. It happens.
* What do we think would have happened had TCU got the ball back with 2 minutes to go near midfield with a timeout to use and a field goal kicker who was apparently good from 56 yards at any point? I'm not sure I want to answer out loud.
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