Penalties Nearly Sink Texas Longhorns vs. Vanderbilt

There was far too much laundry on the field for the Texas Longhorns' liking.

Jon Alfano | Oct 26, 2024

Oct 26, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian talks with the line judge during a time out against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the first half at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images / Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

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Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns escaped with a 27-24 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores on Sunday, but not without some unforced errors along the way.

In what's unfortunately become a bit of a trend this season, the Longhorns had far too many penalties go against them for their liking. Texas had 10 penalties for 107 yards on the day, compared to Vanderbilt's four penalties for 35 yards.

These weren't small penalties either, as most of them had huge implications. On the offensive side of the ball, several drives stalled due to holding and unsportsmanlike conduct calls, especially late in the game. On the defensive side, the Commodores gained three first downs due to Longhorns' penalties, one of them on a fourth down that Texas would've otherwise stopped.

Texas may have pulled out the win this time, but the amount of penalties simply aren't acceptable.

"The 10 penalties and they were all like big penalties, you know, they weren't minimal like false starts," head coach Steve Sarkisian said postgame. "Holding penalties, and DPIs, obviously the roughing the passer there. And those penalties led to points and/or took points off the board for us. Something that we have to clean up there."

As mentioned previously, penalties have been an issue for the Longhorns all season. They now have seven or more penalties in six of their eight games and average 6.9 per contest. The only games where they didn't have that many came in the season opener against Colorado State (three for 25 yards) and the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma (five for 57 yards).

If this game doesn't serve as a warning for the Longhorns, then something is very wrong. They may have been able to overcome the penalties against a solid Commodores team, but when competing for a national championship, that simply won't cut it.