For the second straight week, the Texas Longhorns were forced to gut out a win against a team that many were thinking they would blow out of the water.
But nevertheless, one punt return touchdown, a strip sack fumble recovery, and one bounce of Arch Manning’s head off the ground later, and the Texas Longhorns grabbed their sixth win of the season in overtime against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville Saturday night, despite being down 17 points at one point in the fourth quarter.
And through it all, the one aspect of the Texas team that has gotten them to this point in the season, their elite defense, is the exact same thing that kept them in the fight during their monumental comeback over the Bulldogs.
Mississippi State Bulldogs tight end Seydou Traore jumps to avoid a defender during the fourth quarter against the Texas Longhorns at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
The Texas defense was not going to go down without a fight Saturday in Starkville, and their performance during the offensive comeback was surefire proof of that.
Not counting quarterback Blake Shapen’s game-sealing fumble that was recovered by the Horns after a loss of 31 yards, the Texas defense only allowed the Bulldogs to advance the ball 15 yards in their last 16 plays of the ball game, which allowed the Burnt Orange to score three touchdowns as well as a field goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation and during the overtime period.
As for Mississippi State’s final 17 plays on their last four drives, the Longhorn defense drove them backwards, WAY backwards. Negative 21 yards backwards, all without their star safety Michael Taaffe, who recently underwent thumb surgery, which is supposed to force him to miss the Mississippi State game, as well as next week’s game against the Vanderbilt Commodores.
In his place, defensive back Jelani McDonald shined, scoring a team-high 14 total tackles throughout the matchup, and linebacker Anthony Hill scored 10 tackles of his own and tormented Shapen for 2.5 of the team’s seven sacks, while Ethan Burke scored what ended up being the game-winning strip sack to give Texas the win.
And right before that fateful play, the Bulldogs became their own worst enemy, shooting themselves in the foot with back-to-back false start penalties, pushing them further and further away from the end zone.
The Longhorns will make their long-awaited return to the Forty Acres next Saturday when they welcome Diego Pavia and the red-hot Vanderbilt Commodores, who are fresh off of a close conference win themselves after a Missouri Tigers Hail Mary fell just one yard short.