Texas Football: Texas Defense Throttles No. 11 Utah

The Texas defense turned the Valero Alamo Bowl into its own personal statement in a 38-10 win over Utah.

The Longhorns held the Utes to just 10 points, 254 total yard(126 passing, 128 rushing) and without a touchdown until well into the fourth quarter in what was by far the group's most dominant performance of the season.

What was going on out there was just us having fun, and us having confidence in the defense, the defensive scheme," defensive MVP Jospeh Ossai said. "The coaches, I know they put a lot of time into preparing this game for us, and they wanted to put us in the best situation and the best situation possible."

Ossai relished in his role close to the line of scrimmage, finishing the game with nine tackles, six for loss and three sacks.

Herman praised interim defensive coordinator Craig Naivar, who simplified the Texas scheme to allow athletes to play fast.

You want to be simple but not predictable," Herman said. I think that’s the best way to describe winning defense and you know, when they know what to do and they can fly around, but you don’t want to play 100 percent of the same thing or else you’re going to get schemed up, so there is a bit of a cat-and-mouse in terms of adjustment."

While the defense got off the field regularly, the Texas offense did its part as well. Sam Ehlinger hit on 12-of-18 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns. He added 73 yards and a score on the ground to his total.

At full strength for the first time in two months, the Texas receiving corps looked like the group Longhorn fans expected all season with Devin Duvernay leading the way with three catches for 92 yards and a touchdown and Collin Johnson right behind with three catches for 62 yards and a score.

Yeah, I think when we are healthy and having fun and playing for each other, and playing mistake-free, we’re really, really hard to beat," Ehlinger said.

Keaontay Ingram finished with 108 yards on 13 carries and a score.

Texas drove down for a field goal in the opening drive thanks in large part to a 35-yard pass from Ehlinger to Collin Johnson on the first play from scrimmage.

On the last play of the first quarter Texas punt returner D'Shawn Jamison found the corner and raced past the Utes coverage team for a 74-yard return to the Utah 6-yard line. Ehlinger would hit Collin Johnson just two plays later on a 5-yard pass to make it 10-0.

After the Texas defense stopped Utah on downs at its own 43 on the opening drive of the second half the Longhorn cashed in when Ehlinger hit Ingram on a 16-yard wheel route for a touchdown to make it 17-0.

Utah would finally get on the board later in the quarter, settling for a field goal after driving into the red zone, but a seven-play, 75-yard Texas drive capped by a 5-yard Ehlinger keeper made it 24-3 with six seconds to go in the third quarter.

The Utes finally found the end zone on the next drive thanks to a fourth-down penalty on Keondre Coburn for continuing to play once his helmet came off.

Tyler Huntley hit Demari Simpkins for a 5-yard score just two plays later to make the score 24-10 with 11:34 to go in the game.

From there, it was all Texas.

Ehlinger hit Duvernay on a 15-yard fade route to make it 31-0 and after stopping Utah on downs Ingram put the exclamation point on the Texas victory with 7:54 to go in the game when he blew past the Utah defense for a 49-yard touchdown run to make it 38-10.