DALLAS (AP) — This certainly looked more like the preseason No. 1 team that Texas was before two early losses sent it plummeting all the way out of the AP Top 25.
In the same way that punt returner Ryan Niblett bounced off a teammate on the way to the decisive touchdown in another win over Red River rival sixth-ranked Oklahoma, Arch Manning and the Longhorns may have their season headed again in the right direction.
The 23-6 victory over the previously undefeated Sooners on Saturday saved the season for Texas — at least for now.
“Every single game is a national championship game is how we’re looking at it,” said DeAndre Moore, whose 12-yard TD catch from Manning on the first drive of the second half put Texas ahead to stay. “So every week needs our most and our best.”
Asked if that was just because of being Texas or already having two losses, Moore responded, “Both.”
Texas (4-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) retained the Golden Hat trophy and should be back in the next AP poll Sunday. More importantly, the Longhorns avoided a loss that likely would have ended any realistic chance of getting into the College Football Playoff for the third year in a row.
“We learned how to fight today,” coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We saw the true character of the men in that locker room today, their connectivity, their love for one another. … Because it’s easy to to succumb to the outside noise. And there was a lot of (expletive) getting talked about our team and about these guys. And I think they responded.”
On his 75-yard punt return, Niblett worked up the sideline in front of the Texas bench, and after making a cut inside near midfield bounced off teammate Marshall Landwehr and continued his sprint to the end zone for a 20-6 lead with 9:59 left.
“I feel like he really helped me,” Niblett said. “Because I feel like if I would have went inside, I probably would have gotten tackled.”
The same way the Longhorns would be have been pretty much taken out of championship contention with a loss.
“It was very much needed,” Niblett said of the win.
A 29-21 loss at Florida a week earlier knocked the Longhorns out of the AP poll. That ended their three-game winning streak that followed a season-opening 28-14 loss at now top-ranked Ohio State in a rematch of last year’s College Football Playoff semifinal game at the Cotton Bowl the Buckeyes also won.
Sarkisian said that loss in the Swamp was “a gut-check moment” and led to what wasn’t an easy week for his players hearing so much noise from the outside. But the coach also had a reminder for everyone.
“We’re 1-1 in the SEC. I said this last week, I don’t think people wanted to hear me, but I said, we were 0-1 in the SEC last week,” he said. “We won the conference a year ago in the regular season by going 7-1 in conference play. If we can play the way we played today, we’re plenty good enough to compete with any team in our conference.” But we’ve got to play that way.”
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