Texas Longhorns Have A Lot to 'Clean Up' During Bye Week

The Texas Longhorns got back in the win column on Saturday against Vanderbilt, but it was far from their best performance.

Oct 26, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian celebrates with his team after defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images / Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

The Texas Longhorns beat the Vanderbilt Commodores for a much-needed win. But it wasn't pretty.

Turnovers and penalties plagued the Longhorns and they escaped Nashville with the 27-24 win, but it is clear that Steve Sarkisian's team has a lot of work to do going into the bye week.

The win dropped Texas down one spot in the AP Poll to No. 6 going into Week 10. After Texas lost to Georgia, the biggest question would be, how will the Longhorns bounce back?

Junior quarterback Quinn Ewers started off slowly, throwing an interception on the opening drive, but bounced back and had an almost perfect first half. He completed 17 passes in a row, just two short of the Texas record of 19. He added three passing touchdowns to put Texas ahead 21-10 going into halftime.

But penalties plagued the Longhorns on both sides of the ball. In the second half, a targeting penalty on defensive lineman Vernon Broughton negated a pick-six. There were also instances of defensive pass interference and one roughing the passer penalty.

Texas finished the game with a total of 10 penalties, something that is unacceptable for a team wanting to play for a national championship. Discipline is one thing the top teams in college football show, and against Vanderbilt, Texas did not show much of it.

"The 10 penalties were all big penalties, you know, they weren't minimal like false starts," Sarkisian said after Saturday's game. "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."

Penalties are not the only area Texas needs to clean up during the bye week. Ewers threw two interceptions, both on tipped passes. It was his fourth straight game with an interception, and against Georgia, he lost two fumbles. Down the line, Ewers will be put in worse situations as teams get better at scoring points from penalties.

Though the game wasn't the prettiest, Texas still has some positives to focus on. It was the Team's ninth consecutive road win and a much-needed bounce-back win to stay in contention for a spot in the SEC Championship game.

The defense forced three turnovers, something that is continuing to get better at. Going into the game, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia's offense had only turned the ball over twice this season. The Texas defense forced three.

"We made it a point to go and attack the ball defensively," Sarkisian said. "They had only had two turnovers on the year going into the game, so to go force three turnovers I thought was huge for us defensively."

The Texas defense is still one of the best in the country and is still yet to give up 300 yards in a game. For the Longhorns to get back to being elite, the offense will need to use the bye week to step up to the same level as the defense.

Join the Community:

Subscribe to our YouTube Page HERE

You can follow us for future coverage by subscribing to our newsletter here.Also, be sure to like us on Facebook @LonghornsCountryOnSI & follow us on Twitter at @LonghornsSI

Other Texas Longhorns News:

MORE: Five Key Takeaways From Texas Longhorns' Nail-Biting Win vs. Vanderbilt

MORE: 'Definition of Grit!' Texas Longhorns' Steve Sarkisian Impressed With Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia

MORE: Texas Longhorns DB Michael Taaffe Dispels Concerning Narrative

MORE: Texas Longhorns Offensive Line Continues to Struggle vs. Vanderbilt

MORE: Quinn Ewers Responds to Wild Rumors: 'It Was Weird'