Longhorns Must Avoid 'Rat Poison' After Alabama Upset

The Texas Longhorns took down Goliath in the Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday, but they still have 10 regular season games left. Will they keep up their winning ways?

Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban has had multiple rants over the years about "rat poison."

What does rat poison in the context, you might ask? Rat poison is a phrase Saban has coined to describe the outside praise from fans or the media that if consumed too much by the team, can lead to their "death" — also known as losing a game and falling out of the College Football Playoff race.

After the Texas Longhorns went into Bryant-Denny Stadium and scored likely what will stand as one of the more impressive wins of the season against Alabama, they were praised for their efforts nationwide, vaulted seven spots to No. 4 in the AP Top 25 Poll, is considered a legitimate contender for the CFP and quarterback Quinn Ewers is now tied for the second-best odds to win the Heisman Trophy at +900, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.

Longhorns linebacker Jaylan Ford is blocking out the hype.

"ok I've seen enough it's all [rat] poison now," Ford said in a post on X.

ok I’ve seen enough It’s all 🐀poison now

— Jaylan Ford (@Jaylanfxrd) September 11, 2023

Ford noticed all the statistics on Texas' win being put out there and he embodied a message that head coach Steve Sarkisian preached leading into the Alabama game: focusing on the day-to-day grind throughout the week to get a win on Saturday.

"The game is behind you now, so what you did doesn't really matter. You've got to go out there and win again," Ford said on SiriusXM Radio Tuesday. "That's where the rat poison came from, just don't really believe the hype and get complacent. There's still a lot to go out there and achieve. There's still a long season ahead and we've got to keep pushing and keep striving to be better."

Sarkisian said he wanted to see his team throw "haymakers" against the Crimson Tide. They did just that, but now the question becomes: how do they respond?

Texas is back ... at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Saturday to face the Wyoming Cowboys — a scrappy team that upset Texas Tech to open the season.

The Longhorns can't coast or else things could look very similar to the start against Rice, where they struggled to get going offensively.

Texas has a five-week stretch in conference play against Kansas, Oklahoma, Houston, BYU and Kansas State where it will have to be firing on all cylinders. If the Longhorns sleep walk into any of those games, they could come out on the losing end, especially now that they are the ones being hunted in the Big 12.

Texas' goals are to win the conference in its final year and contend for the CFP. Will the Longhorns keep the same mental focus they had leading up to Alabama, or will they gnaw on the rat poison?