On Saturday, Texas football nearly learned the same lesson it had taught one week earlier.
NO. 20 TEXAS VS. NO. 5 GEORGIA
When/where: Nov. 15 in Athens, Ga., time TBA
TV/radio: TV TBA; 1300 AM, 98.1 FM, 105.3 FM (Spanish)
Until the fat lady sings, it ain’t over. At least not in the Southeastern Conference.
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Despite building a 24-point lead at home against No. 9 Vanderbilt, Texas was left sweating until the final seconds of a 34-31 victory. The Longhorns fended off Vanderbilt’s comeback attempt one week after they rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat Mississippi State in overtime
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Those two dramatic victories now have Texas (7-2, 4-1) chasing Texas A&M (8-0, 5-0) and Alabama (7-1, 5-0) in the SEC standings along with Georgia (7-1, 5-1) and Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1) as the regular season enters its final month.
“As far as the statement win goes, they’re all statement wins right now,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “When you lose your conference opener, it’s one game at a time at that point. Last year in this conference, we went 7-1 and that was the best record in the regular season in the SEC; 6-2 got you into the SEC championship game. Like I told the team, I don’t know if 6-2 is going to be good enough this year. I think 7-1’s got to be the deal, and the only way to go 7-1 is to win the next one. And that was our focus this week.”
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Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian reacts to a call during the game against Vanderbilt at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 in Austin.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Texas almost loses lead, composure at the end
With six seconds left in the third quarter Saturday, a Texas victory seemed inevitable at Royal-Memorial Stadium. The Longhorns had opened the second half with two long scoring drives and Mason Shipley’s 37-yard field goal lifted them to a 34-10 lead.
So how did Vanderbilt rally so rapidly and come within one recovered onside kick in the final minute from making things incredibly interesting? For starters, Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia threw 67- and 8-yard touchdown passes in the fourth quarter while also running for a 25-yard score.
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Then there was the officiating.
MORE: Longhorns take down No. 9 Commodores 34-31 in complete SEC win
Texas found itself on the wrong end of several calls in the final quarter. With about four minutes left, wide receiver Emmett Mosley V had a touchdown catch overturned on a drive that ended with a missed field goal. As the Longhorns tried to later kill the remaining clock, they stalled when offensive lineman Brandon Baker was called for a false start ahead of a third-and-2 snap.
And after Vanderbilt pulled within 34-22 with 3:54 left, the Commodores went for two. Pavia connected with Junior Sherrill, but it appeared on replays that the Vanderbilt receiver failed to reach the ball to the goal line as he was being tackled by UT cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau. Nevertheless, the officials ruled that Sherrill had done what he needed to do for those two points. A review upheld that call.
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“He didn’t get that,” Guilbeau insisted. “That ball didn’t even cross the plane. That ball wasn’t nowhere near the plane. It’s crazy. When I’d seen the replay, I’m like, ain’t no way they just called this a (2-point conversion) when the ball never even crossed the plane. It is what it is. At the end of the day, I’ve got to go to the next play.”
Texas Longhorns wide receiver Emmett Mosley V (3) dives for a catch during the game against Vanderbilt at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 in Austin. The catch was ruled an incomplete pass.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Texas plans on submitting those disputed plays to the league office, Sarkisian said. He wants an explanation as to why Vanderbilt defensive back Kolbey Taylor wasn’t called for defensive pass interference on Mosley’s overturned touchdown catch, and he thought Baker’s false start should have instead been a Vanderbilt offsides penalty. Sarkisian said he didn’t receive an on-field explanation for the Sherrill play.
Sarkisian, however, conceded that Texas players and coaches may have lost their composure in the fourth quarter when things didn’t go their way. The Longhorns got “too caught up in the officiating,” he said.
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“I think it’s a lesson learned about poise and composure, controlling what you can control,” Sarkisian said. “We can’t control the calls. We got to focus on the next play.”
Longhorns look for ways to keep their cool in remaining games
After the close call against Vanderbilt, Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. was admittedly frustrated with the team’s play in the fourth quarter. He promised that “we’re going to clean up some of the stuff next week and the week after, but just going to get the win is the most important thing right now.”
But what happens if Texas faces a similar kind of adversity after it returns from the bye week during a homestretch of games against Georgia, Arkansas and Texas A&M? How will the Longhorns keep their composure when opponents are making plays and the team isn’t getting calls?
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MORE: How Emmett Mosley V changed everything for Arch Manning and the Texas football offense
Hill said it was important to “trust the coaches and trust the calls that we have. So just comes back to just trusting the people around you and trusting the coaches.”
Said Gilbeau: “That’s why you always have veteran guys around. So that way, if something happened to a vet guy or a rookie or a young guy, you always have a veteran player that picks that player up and just give them positive energy. I mean, it’s always next-play mentality.”
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