Five key takeaways from the Texas Longhorns' thrilling win over Vanderbilt

After their first loss of the season last week, Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns bounced back on Saturday against a good Vanderbilt team with a final score of 27-24.

The Longhorns led by 14 at one point during the game and 11 at halftime, but the lead slowly began to shrink as the Texas offense failed to reach the end zone in the second half.

Although a win is a win, the team seemed very undisciplined and repeatedly shot themselves in the foot. I don't want to discredit Vanderbilt one bit, but Texas missed a lot of opportunities to close the door on this game.

On the bright side, Texas still had some positive aspects of the game.

When he was benched against Georgia on Saturday and threw a tipped pass on his first throw against Vanderbilt that resulted in an interception, he caused a stir online and brought back the quarterback controversy. But it didn't take long for Ewers to silence her.

After the interception on the first drive, Ewers completed 17 consecutive passes and threw three touchdowns in that span, giving Texas a multiple-score lead late in the second quarter.

Ewers finished the game with 288 yards, completed 27 of his 37 passes and threw three touchdowns.

It's a very impressive statistic, but Ewers threw another pick later in the game and just didn't seem like the same Ewers before the injury. His footwork looked awkward and he still didn't seem comfortable escaping the pocket. I'm not saying he's still hurt, but if you watch the Michigan game you'll see a much more confident Quinn Ewers.

Some of these findings will be very obvious. One of the most glaring problems for the Longhorns on Saturday was offensive line discipline.

They didn't allow seven sacks like they did in the Georgia game, but still allowed four and nine tackles for loss. What was really bad was how momentum was destroyed on several drives by holding calls.

Some examples of this included the holding penalty in the third quarter and one early in the fourth quarter that eliminated a fourth down and ultimately eliminated Texas from the field goal contest, making it a two-point game. On the following drive, Texas had another holding penalty on the first play of the drive, which contributed to another punt.

With experience on the O-line, you just can't keep making mistakes. The Vandy defensive line has been subpar all year long, they only had 14 sacks prior to the game in the SEC's second-to-last season. The offensive line needs to do more if Texas wants to compete for the top spot in the SEC.

The running game was outstanding. There's something fascinating about watching Tre Wisner and Jaydon Blue evade defenders in open space.

The Texas running back room had just 1.1 yards per rush attempt against Georgia, the worst in the Sarkisian era. Against Vanderbilt, Wisner had 79 rushing yards on 17 attempts and 39 receiving yards on five receptions. Blue rushed for 47 yards on 10 attempts and 24 yards on three receptions.

There will be a particular focus on Blue's improvement, especially since he showed explosiveness not only on check-downs but also off-handoffs after failing to make a single rushing attempt last week.

Blue has so much speed and volatility that he isn't involved in the run game, he helped show the team his value today after a week of questions about his role.

It was so important for the team to get the fast-paced game back on its feet. Texas missed the explosive plays against Georgia. Both Blue and Wisner failed to find the end zone, but they helped create many scoring opportunities, such as Wisner's 20-yard carry in the third and seventh quarters that helped set up a third quarter field goal. Blue also had a huge 23-yard gain on a third-and-9 as Texas led 24-17 late in the fourth. This drive also ended in a field goal.

The Longhorns may have the fastest offensive core in football. You can find players at all offensive positions who can run after the catch. Deandre Moore Jr., who was the best receiver for Texas today, had a nice catch near the line of scrimmage that he took 27 yards to the end zone, breaking a tackle along the way. Jaydon Blue took a dump off on a 2nd-and-16 to the first down marker after breaking a defender's ankles at the line of scrimmage. Gunnar Helm, who has had a fantastic YAC all season, made a great catch, converting a third-and-7 before shooting up another 15 yards.

Some fans may be annoyed that Sarkisian continues to use quick passes in his offense. But Texas' greatest strength on offense is exploiting open space. Once wide receiver Isaiah Bond returns, the team will have another speedster who can play in the open field.

Converting turnovers into points was a big focus for the team after it intercepted Georgia quarterback Carson Beck three times and scored no points.

Once again, the Texas defense was phenomenal at creating turnovers. But once again, the Texas offense couldn't take advantage. At least they scored at least three points from turnovers this time, which is handy considering they won by three points. That was on Pavia's second interception, when linebacker Liona Lefau gave Texas ideal field position and took them to the Vanderbilt 29-yard line.

Additionally, Ewers and the offense don't help the defense much either when they turn the ball over multiple times on the Texas side of the field. 14 of Vanderbilt's 24 points came from interceptions that gave Vanderbilt field position, starting at the Texas 38 and 31. You can't blame this game for getting too close to the defense in the slightest.

It may be surprising, but I think this win will help Texas succeed. They've had losses, but they haven't really been in a close game all year. Despite all the mistakes, the Longhorns still won and got the job done. This learning experience will be very valuable to the team and can show that even if Texas can't play its best football, the team can be tough enough to win close games.

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