How Texas' defense is backing up claims as nation's best heading into SEC title game
Dec 3, 2024, 3:37 pm
How good is this defense? Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.
Texas defensive tackle Alfred Collins surveyed the wreckage left by the No. 2 Longhorns' total domination of Texas A&M.
Then he summed up the message he believes it sent to the rest of college football about the Texas defense.
“We're the best in the nation,” Collins said.
It's hard to argue with the evidence the No. 2 Longhorns (11-1, 7-1, No. 3 CFP) have produced week after week in earning a spot in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday against No. 6 Georgia (10-2, 6-2 No. 7 CFP). The winner also earns a first-round bye in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Texas opened the season with a shutout. Three more times the Longhorns did not surrender an offensive touchdown. The defense has surrendered a total of 17 points over the last three games. The Longhorns rank No. 3 nationally in total defense, No. 2 in scoring defense, No. 1 in passing yards allowed and No. 3 in total interceptions while allowing just six passing touchdowns.
Against Texas A&M, in the first game in the rivalry since 2011, Texas allowed just 248 total yards and made two critical touchdown-saving stands, one early and one late, that sealed a 17-7 victory. On the second one, Texas stuffed the Aggies on fourth-and-goal from the Texas 1 with less than five minutes left.
“We feel like nobody’s getting in the end zone with us,” Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. said after the game. “If you think you’re going to just run right at us for 1 yard, I feel like you’ve lost your mind. I feel like that’s not going to happen.”
Most notable against A&M was how the defense turned momentum and rescued a sputtering offense after the Aggies had scored their only touchdown on an interception return, and then blocked a punt. Backed inside their 5, the Texas defensive line mauled the Aggies and stuffed four consecutive run plays.
“It’s just like a common theme at this point,” Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers said after the game, “they continue to save our butts on offense.”
The game against Georgia is a rematch of the Bulldogs' 30-15 win on Oct. 19. Texas will be playing in the title game in its first year in the league. The Bulldogs are in the championship game for the fourth consecutive year and for the seventh time since 2018.
The Bulldogs' 30 points was the most the Longhorns allowed all season. But even then, the Texas defense mostly excelled, holding Georgia under 300 total yards and intercepting three passes by Georgia quarterback Carson Beck.
Georgia ran out to a 23-0 lead after two Texas turnovers set up the Bulldogs with short drives for a pair of touchdowns.
Arguably the only time the Texas defense truly broke this season was a second half touchdown drive by the Bulldogs that put the game out of reach. The Longhorns had pulled within 23-15 when Georgia marched 89 yards in 11 plays for Trevor Etienne's fourth-down 1-yard TD run.
"Georgia had a bunch of short fields and took advantage of those," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday.
If anything, the Texas defense has gotten better since then. And Georgia coach Kirby Smart won't count on Texas being starstruck playing in the SEC title game.
“I think defensively they’ve been at a high level the entire year," Smart said.
“I’m just saying that the previous matchup does not determine this matchup,” Smart said. “You can’t overstate that to your players because the flow of that game was different in the first three, four, five drives. And then, you know, after a turnover it went the other way a little bit.”
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Joe Mixon ran the Houston Texans to another win Sunday to help them go into their bye on a high note.
Mixon bounced back from his worst performance of the season to rush for 101 yards and a touchdown to lead the Texans to a 23-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It was just Houston’s second win in the past five games and helped the first-place Texans (8-5) remain two games up in the AFC South.
The game was tied at 6-6 in the third quarter when a 7-yard TD run by Mixon put the Texans on top for good. The Jaguars cut it to three late, but Mixon's 8-yard carry on third-and-4 allowed Houston to run out the clock for the win.
The performance came after he had a season-low 22 yards rushing in a loss to the Titans at home.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud said Mixon has been invaluable to not only the team, but to him personally in his first year in Houston after a trade from Cincinnati.
“He’s always telling me like: ‘bro, you got it. Just continue to just be you,’” Stroud said. “For me, it’s been great to have that, because at times you can be in your own head or whatever. But he’s always there to pick me back up. And a lot of the guys, too.”
He's the third player in NFL history with at least 100 yards rushing and a rushing touchdown in six road games in the same season. He joined Tiki Barber of the New York Giants (2004) and Derrick Henry of Tennessee (2020) in accomplishing the feat. Mixon is the first to reach the marks in his first six road games of a season.
Mixon, who ranks third in the NFL by averaging 88.7 yards rushing a game, leads the Texans with 887 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns despite missing three games with an ankle injury.
His touchdown was one of two Houston scored after halftime Sunday. It was the first time the offense has scored more than one TD in the second half in five games.
What’s working
Entering Monday, the Texans lead the NFL with 84 tackles for loss this season after adding three on Sunday and their 42 sacks rank second. Danielle Hunter is tied for third in the NFL with 15 tackles for loss this season and his 10½ sacks rank second.
Will Anderson Jr., last year’s AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, is having another strong year and his 13 tackles for loss and his 9½ sacks are both tied for seventh most in the league entering Monday.
What needs help
The Texans converted just 1 of 3 red zone opportunities Sunday. They had a first down at the 8-yard line in the second quarter and settled for a short field goal when their drive stalled after Stroud was sacked.
They failed to score a touchdown again late in the third quarter when they had a first down at the 16, but couldn’t move the ball after that and added another short field goal.
Stock up
TE Dalton Schultz had five receptions for 61 yards and his first touchdown of the season against the Jaguars. It was his second-most yards receiving this season as his production has dipped after he had 635 yards receiving and five touchdowns last season.
Stock down
LB Azeez Al-Shaair was ejected for a violent hit to the facemask of Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence that caused him to be carted off the field with a concussion. Lawrence scrambled on a second-and-7 play in the second quarter. He had started his slide before Al-Shaair raised his forearm and hit the defenseless quarterback.
The hit caused a sideline-clearing fight and another scuffle as he was being led off the field.
Coach DeMeco Ryans said that’s “not what we’re coaching” and that play is not representative of who Al-Shaair is. The sixth-year pro has been suspended for three games.
He apologized for the hit Monday in a post on X.
Injuries
Safety Eric Murray left Sunday’s game with a hand injury. … Schultz injured his right shoulder but returned.
Key number
10 — The Texans are tied for fourth in the NFL with a plus-10 turnover differential entering Monday.
Next steps
Ryans wants his team to focus on rest and recovery during the week off to prepare for a difficult stretch of three games in 10 days starting with a visit from Miami on Dec. 15.
“Right now, want our guys to just get away from it all and that’s the main thing and when we hit reset, we’ll hit reset and we’ll be ready to get back to it,” he said.