A CAUTIONARY TALE: UT'S '23 SEASON REVIEW

ALL GAS...SOME BREAKS

by Larry Carlson https://texaslsn.org

It was a helluva season for the Burnt Orange Boys of Autumn in 2023.

First conference title after a 13-year drought. A sweet, sweet swansong for Texas in the Big XII. Texas fans will long remember the 57-7 crushing of Texas Tech, followed by UT barbecuing Oklahoma State, 49-21 in the championship game.

University of Texas football was back at last, and at last it was no joke.

The heady times were hardly disrupted by a late failure to convert four late passes against Washington in the Sugar Bowl, with a national championship shot at stake.

Quarterback Quinn Ewers soon pledged his return to DKR and optimism at the Forty Acres has run high for eight months. Justifiably so, it would seem.

When eleven, count 'em, eleven Horns were grabbed by NFL teams last spring, it was a show of strength, not a time to grimace. Coach Steve Sarkisian has been constructing a stacked program that reloads instead of rebuilds. And, as of July 1, Texas has been a dues-payin', ready-for-playin' SEC rattlesnake.

So the start of the new season is nigh. The so-called media experts have Texas at number four, with a dozen spots open in the new playoff. Most forecasters see a Texas-Georgia title game for SEC bragging rights, and that's following a much anticipated Oct. 19 Horn-Dawg showdown at DKR.

Not to tamp down the 'thuse or the fiery enthusiasm, but just to serve as a reminder, let's recall just how close Texas might have come to an average season last fall, another one with maybe eight victories, not 12.

After threshing Rice in the opener Texas' stock soared when the Horns took down what would be Nick Saban's final Bama team, posting a double-digit win in the Heart of Dixie. Perhaps a tad loopy from the congratulations, Texas was even-steven with lightly regarded Wyoming as the final quarter opened the next week in Austin. The Cowboys wore out and embarrassed the Texas "D" with a scorched-earth 77-yard TD drive that took more than ten minutes off the DKR clock in the third. But Texas, sparked by a catch-and-sprint from Xavier Worthy, rallied. Texas won by 21.

The Longhorns vaporized Baylor on a farewell/adios/see ya bombing raid of Waco but then let Kansas – yeah, the infamous Jayhawks who humiliated UT in their most recent Austin visit – stick around way too long on September's final Saturday.

With under three minutes to go in the third, Texas – dominating the stats – led by only six. Then the fourth-quarter fuse popped and the Horns made it look easy, 40-14.

But it wasn't always a slow start that characterized the struggle that marked half of UT's outings last fall. Au contraire, as they say in Paris, TX, Texas was more likely to allow leads to evaporate. The worst it got was at the Cotton Bowl, as you might recall. In spite of a horrific whiff on first and goal at the OU won, Texas managed to craft a 30-27 lead with a minute left. Then the defense went missing tackles and missing, period. Nuff said.

But the scariest it got was in UT's next game, following an open week. The Horns looked crisp in zipping to a 21-0 lead over the U of H in Houston. Fool's gold.

Sark called a fake field goal when a chip shot FG would've put Texas up by 24, and things went south from there. Quinn Ewers got crunched in the third – a shoulder sprain that would keep him out the next two games – and Houston kept on coming. In spite of a bruising UT rush defense that allowed 14 yards, the Cougar passing game toasted Texas and the score was tied at 24 with five minutes to play. Texas put together a drive, CJ Baxter scored and....and then it really got dicey.

Let's be honest. Texas got the "favorable spot" of the season on Houston's next drive. Watch the replay of third-and-one at the UT 10, if you didn't see it twenty times that muggy October afternoon. It might have been the call that turned a malaise-filled Texas program into the monster it appears to be now. It was almost certainly the worm that turned Dana Holgorsen into Houston's former coach some seven weeks later.

Still, Texas had to stop Houston on fourth down. They did, thanks to an underthrown pass. The Horns escaped, 31-24. And perhaps they learned to win ugly.

After a blowout victory over BYU, Texas went back to the template. The Horns led old nemesis K-State, 27-7, late in the third period, with Maalik Murphy in the QB1 saddle for the second straight week. No Quinn, no problem. In the bag, right?

It ended going into overtime in Austin. Four days after Halloween, and it felt like "Nightmare On The Forty Acres." A Bert Auburn field goal and a big defensive stop later, Texas was 8-1. Whew.

Seven days later in Fort Worth, deja vu. All over again. Ewers was back and chipping away at some rust. The Horns led 26-6 at half. Not so fast, Lee Corso. Jonathan Brooks was helped off the field with what turned out as his final game in a Texas uniform. The Frogs were relentless in chipping away. They looked to be forcing a late Longhorn punt and seemed destined to pull off the upset of the year. But the Mighty Quinn conjured some magic on a big third-and-long from his end zone and hit Adonai Mitchell, falling on his back, for 35 yards. The clutch play enabled UT's gassed defense off the field. Texas 29, TCU 26.

Next ol' verse, same as the first. Cool night in Ames for Iowa State and Texas achingly built a 23-14 fourth quarter edge on a Ewers-to-Gunnar Helm TD pass. The Cyclones stormed back to within seven before a late Bert Auburn FG iced UT's first ten-win season since 2009. And that set the table for peak performances against Tech and Oklahoma State, and UT's first appearance in the College Football Playoff.

Okay, now that I beat you over the head with the message...I think it's important to skip the amnesia and remind ourselves that the '23 season's success did not come easily for the burnt orange. But learning to win on "off" days and persevering in fourth quarters ...all that should be invaluable experience for Sark and crew. Improvement is a must in '24 because the level of competition will absolutely be heightened.

(TLSN's Larry Carlson is a member of the Football Writers Association of America. He teaches sports media at Texas State University and lives in San Antonio.)

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