Before kickoff in Knoxville, Tennessee, everyone talked about Texas senior quarterback Arch Manning making his debut in Neyland Stadium — the same place his uncle, Peyton Manning, once called home.
By the end of the game on Saturday, there was much more to talk about — from the good to the bad to the unsportsmanlike conduct call against junior edge rusher Colin Simmons for “simulating using the restroom,” according to officials.
A 20-17 road victory against a No. 14-ranked Tennessee Volunteers team isn’t an easy accomplishment to add to a resume. But going forward, Texas will still have to place major emphasis on minimizing mistakes and penalties.
“We’ve got to have a mentality when we go on the road against these good teams that we’re going to find a way to win,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said in a media availability after the game. “The easiest way to do that is to play well, but when you’re not at your best in one phase or another phase, can you find a way to win the game and then get better going into the next one?”
Texas did find a way to win, but they finished the game with 11 penalties. In the instance of Simmons’ unsportsmanlike conduct call, Tennessee turned a dying drive into a use of over three valuable minutes as the first-half clock wound down.
Offensively, yellow flags created major problems. Generating momentum in a stadium as loud as this one is no small feat, but many of the Longhorns’ wounds were self-inflicted through holding, illegal forward passes and more.
However, largely due to their first and one of their last offensive drives of the matchup, Texas managed to put 20 points on the board to secure a scrappy win at Neyland Stadium. The team rallied around a standout performance by junior wide receiver Ryan Wingo, who accumulated 74 yards on six receptions, along with supplemental performances by freshman wide receiver Jermaine Bishop Jr. and graduate running back Raleek Brown.
The run game suffered in the absence of senior running back Hollywood Smothers, who is dealing with an ankle injury and was listed as questionable on the injury report for much of the week preceding the game, but Brown still found the end zone in both the first and fourth quarters.
Defensively, while the urination imitation serves as an obvious exception, the Longhorns remained mostly disciplined and largely dominant. Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp’s pupils seem comfortable implementing the aggressive, hard-nosed defense that he is known for teaching with fervor. It’s a defense that hits hard and travels well.
“(Tennessee) is one of the best environments in the country,” senior linebacker Justin Cryer said after the game. “That’s an offensive issue, as far as the crowd noise and all that. Defensively, we get to talk. We probably have better communication on the road because we get to talk.”
Simmons finished the matchup with a program record-tying five sacks, giving Volunteers freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon a not-so-warm welcome to the Southeastern Conference.
Wingo pointed out after the game that, offensively, this team has a lot of new members still adjusting to playing in environments like this one. Brown is among those players.
“It felt like I was vibrating,” Brown said after the matchup. “I ain’t gonna lie, it was loud.”
Opening against the Volunteers gives the Longhorns a very accurate idea of what they have to work on, with minimizing penalties at the top of the list. Luckily, this Texas team has eight SEC games to tighten things up, and it might need each one of them.
