TEXAS-Tennessee Postgame LIVE

TexasVOCFB Postgame LIVE — Texas 20, Tennessee 17 Hosts: Matthew Miller & Thomas Bresee Presented by FanDuel Open / Vibe of the game (0:00–2:07) Weird, frustrating win. Texas “survives” a game that felt like it should have been 21-3 at half. Tennessee had ~130 yards of offense and one field goal until the late flurry. Final: 20-17. Texas never trailed after taking the lead back. Tommy: Mental toughness is real (same trait as Ohio State). They answered the punt-return TD, got the Cam Coleman chunk, kicked the FG, and didn’t give the lead back. Matthew: Never apologize for a road SEC win. Defense has been fine since the Washington game. Offense is the problem. Arch Manning (2:32–6:29) 14-of-19, 201 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, sacked 6 times. Matthew: 4–5 sacks on the OL, 1–2 on Arch holding it. First half and late fourth were solid; second/third quarters muddy. INT to Cam Coleman: not a great throw or decision; Coleman also mistimed the jump. Tommy: Started 7-of-8 and was ripping it. Throw to Jermaine Bishop may be his best of the year. Aggressive deep shot that Keon Lee picked — Tommy not furious at the decision (similar missed post last week). Line-of-scrimmage awareness is a recurring issue (three times in two weeks). Both: Hard to blame Arch when Arian Carter is in his face in two seconds. Protection and first-down play-calling were the bigger issues. Accuracy (~70%) was a positive. Run game & Relique Brown / Hollywood Smothers (3:43–4:28, 22:56–24:15) Relique Brown: 17 carries, 67 yards (3.9 YPC), 2 TDs. Turned it on in the second half. Hollywood Smothers fully padded, moving pregame, “good to go,” then never played. Tyler Horka tweeted he looked gimpy at the end of warm-ups. Hosts puzzled why he stayed in jersey if he wasn’t going to play. First-down runs were a disaster — constantly minus-2/minus-3 against Tennessee blitzes, creating 3rd-and-11+ (first seven third downs averaged 11.8 yards to go). Same pattern as Ohio State. Late-game push was better. Both expect a “lean-on-it-late” run game, not an elite one. Need more explosives through the air. Offensive line (8:11–11:05, 16:54–18:43) Dominated by Jim Knowles packages. Communication breakdowns (Brandon Baker twist/blitz — didn’t touch anyone). Connor Robertson is who he is vs. athletic DTs/DEs. Tommy: Line is still new. Ohio State game wasn’t a fluke of OSU playing poorly; they can be a good pass-protection unit with time. Bye week to clean communication before Oklahoma, then Ole Miss/Florida/LSU. Matthew: Upcoming schedule (OU, Ole Miss/Will Echols, Florida, LSU) will punish this if it doesn’t improve. Still found enough late to win — unlike last year on the road. Receivers (3:03–3:42, 20:54–22:12) Cam Coleman underwhelming relative to NIL/preseason ranking (3rd-best WR on the team some weeks). Jermaine Bishop: 2-33, nice 29-yard sideline catch. One play drawn up for him. Hosts excited about the talent; don’t expect a huge year (maybe 250 yards?). Ryan Wingo / others mentioned in passing. Defense — the bright spot (2:19–2:30, 11:35–17:16) No real concerns. Linebackers played well. Coverage unit (Grayson Littleton especially) held up vs. Tennessee’s 50-50 balls. Colin Simmons: all-time performance. 5 sacks (possibly 5.5 after regrade — would be a Texas record). Used as overhang/Jalen Walker-style rusher by Will Muschamp. One dumb personal foul (the “machine-gun” moment everyone on the sideline knew was a flag). He knew immediately and responded. Lance Jackson: best game of his career. If he plays at 80% of this going forward, Texas may have the best edge duo in the country. 10 sacks, 12 TFLs as a defense. Bo Masco PI flags: Tommy not overly concerned given Tennessee’s scheme and receivers (Mike Matthews, Darius Jackson). SEC refs liberal. Penalties (11:35–15:00) 115 penalty yards. Hosts expect this team to live in the 60–80 range under Sarkisian — that’s who they are (ranked ~50th the last two years). Can’t have back-breakers like the Simmons flag (gave Tennessee a first down with a chance to put the game away). Holding/false starts are livable. Some flags (especially DPI) are Tennessee putting you in bad spots + SEC officiating. Special teams (18:46–20:09, 25:10–25:55) Onside kick / drop-kick: Wingo isolated. Hosts would rather have Emmett Mosley, Dalen McCutcheon, Bishop, or even Relique Brown back there. Alignment issues. Not expected to be a recurring problem. Quay Moss punt return: four guys aligned to the return side. Fake-fair-catch / gunner-to-returner trick with Niblett/Bishop — creative from Jeff Banks, but the flag on the other punt return is more on the player (Niblett) than coaching. Big-picture takeaways (6:29–8:11, 24:16–25:10) Team is talented and mentally tough but frustrating. Should have won this (and Ohio State) by more. Question hanging: can they play this sloppy and still win a title? That would still feel like unfulfilled potential. Offense has to find explosives. Arch will hunt them. Defense and toughness can carry them through September undefeated on the road in the SEC — something they didn’t do last year. Bye week, then Oklahoma. Line and first-down identity are the next boxes to check. Close / upcoming content (25:56–end) Grades video dropping Sunday before noon. Tuesday 7 p.m. ET show: season-so-far recap + this game + look-ahead. Hook Em Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.