AUSTIN, Texas After the second and final bye week of the season, the No. 5 Texas Longhorns are back at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, hosting the Florida Gators at 11 a.m. Central on ABC.

As one of five one-loss teams in the SEC, Texas has some control over its destiny as it looks to appear in the conference championship game in its first season as an SEC school, but maintaining that control requires winning. What do the tiebreak scenarios look like? Well, they’re complicated now with the conference dropping divisions when Texas and Oklahoma joined the league.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian likes to emphasize “be in love with us,” and that means focusing on starting faster, especially redshirt junior quarterback Quinn Ewers, reducing turnovers and avoiding the self-inflicted wounds the Longhorns faced against the Bulldogs have cost and the victory over the Commodores must be closer than necessary. Penalties have been a particular problem offensively: junior right tackle Cam Williams (12), junior left tackle Kelvin Banks (five) and senior tight end Gunnar Helm (five) have combined for 22 penalties this season.

Against an injury-plagued Florida team that will likely start a walk-on quarterback, Texas has some extra margin for error, but that won’t be the case every week and it certainly won’t be true in the postseason. so there is real urgency to prove the Horns can play cleaner and more complementary football after the bye week.

Injury reports

Here’s the latest Texas injury report before the game, which no longer includes junior wide receiver Isaiah Bond and senior safety Andrew Mukuba:

With redshirt senior defensive tackle Vernon Broughton out for the first half due to the targeting penalty called against Vanderbilt, senior defensive tackle Jermayne Lole took first-team reps alongside senior defensive tackle Alfred Collins during pre-game warmups.

For Florida, quarterback DJ Laway and running back Montrell Johnson Jr. both listed as playing time decisions:

During the pre-match warm-ups, Lagway was in the pads, but it was Aidan Warner who took pictures from the center of the first team.

First quarter

After Florida won the toss and postponed, Texas received the ball to start the game. The Longhorns got off to a fast start and worked on the quick passing game as Ewers went 5-of-5 for 53 yards before a serious foul was committed by sophomore running back Quintrevion Wisner – facing a 2nd-and-3 at the Florida 16-yard line Wisner retreats. on its run after it was blown up by a scraping defensive end, turning a short loss into a seven-yard loss that resulted in an Ewers sack on an end-tackle twist after Texas called a timeout. So on consecutive plays, Texas went from easy field goal range in the red zone to senior place-kicker Bert Auburn missing a 51-yard attempt.

With Warner at quarterback for the Gators, Longhorns junior Trey Moore was able to put Florida on third down and long after they picked up a first down by making consecutive tackles for loss. The UTSA transfer entered the game with half a tackle for loss in 304 total snaps this season.

Texas missed a big opportunity inside its 20-yard line when the Florida cornerback fell on an out route from Bond, who couldn’t find the football from his break. If he had caught it, there would be no one near him – even at less than 100 percent, it’s a play that Bond should score on. Ewers nearly threw an interception on the next play when a defender undercut senior tight end Gunnar Helm. The Longhorns were able to move the chains, however, when Ewers scrambled for nine yards on third-and-10 and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian went for it on fourth down, a Wisner run that barely gained enough distance.

Then Sarkisian went for some heavy deception and Bond called an end that went 44 yards after a fake end around and a fake handoff to the running back. The Longhorns took the lead with 3:43 left in the first quarter when a fake screen set junior wide receiver Matthew Golden free on a coverage error for a 29-yard touchdown.

Typically run-heavy, Florida tried to create some explosive plays with two play-action passes that went incomplete, allowing the Texas Dime defense to take the field on a 3rd-and-15 after a false start. The Gators called a conservative handoff, but sophomore linebacker Anthony Hill stripped the ball loose and Moore recovered it to give the Longhorns offense a short field even after a block in the back penalty on the return.

After Ewers missed a wheel route intended for Wisner, Texas scored another touchdown on a play-action pass that went to Helm over the seam for a 22-yard touchdown and a 14–0 lead.

Second quarter

After initially keeping the offense on the field at the end of the first quarter, Florida head coach Billy Napier elected to punt as the second quarter began. Texas was fortunate to escape the punt with a touchback when senior wide receiver Silas Bolden failed to field the ball just inside the 15-yard line.

Banks was called for holding the first play, a screen to Helm was stopped and Ewers had to throw the ball away on second down, setting up 3rd and 20. A check-down for junior running back Jaydon Blue picked up minimal yardage to force a punt.

A rare coverage error by the Texas secondary allowed Florida to hit an explosive on a play-action pass to start the drive that gained 39 yards on an over route. Facing a critical 3rd and 4 in the red zone, the Gators called their first timeout of the half, coming out in an empty formation before sending the running back into the backfield and filling up thanks to a strong effort from Collins, forcing the target unit onto the field. After a false start, Florida’s kicker missed the 30-yard attempt.

Texas was able to earn another set of downs when Ewers connected with Bond down the sideline for a 19-yard gain to convert 3rd and 7. Ewers missed a big opportunity on the next play when he hit sophomore wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. threw down. the field for a potential touchdown that Moore should have caught anyway. Ewers tried to pass back up the middle to Moore on third down, but couldn’t hit the window between three defenders.

When the Longhorns’ defense forced a three and out, including redshirt freshman cornerback Warren Roberson helping to blow up the third-down screen pass, the Texas offense responded with Wisner taking a screen pass for a 50-yard touchdown behind strong blocks from Banks, junior right guard Cole Hutson and Helm.

Florida was able to sustain its longest drive of the game with the help of an early penalty on Texas redshirt junior safety Michael Taaffe, but the drive stalled when Moore was credited with his first sack in Austin during a friendly score – on the televised broadcast , it appeared Warner was slightly past the line of scrimmage – and freshman Colin Simmons was assessed a holding penalty on 3rd and 4. With Florida on third and long, junior nickel back Jaylon Guilbeau broke free on a blitz for a sack.

Texas tried to score again before halftime and succeeded, getting a 45-yard catch and being run by Blue with a swing pass and a 32-yard touchdown pass from Ewrs to Golden, who showed remarkable body control to adjust to the throw and take the ball. 28-0 lead.

The Horns had another chance to score before halftime when freshman linebacker Ty’Anthony Smith came up with his first career interception and capitalized on the opportunity – Bolden caught a crossing route and caused several defenders to miss a 20-yard gain before Moore chatted a ball. would-be touchdown catch that was well thrown by Ewers, but Blue had a 20-yard reception over the middle and finished the drive from five yards out for a 35-0 margin.

Texas’ two late touchdowns came within a minute of game time and allowed Ewers to finish the half 17 of 25 with 297 yards and four touchdowns, season highs in passing yards and touchdowns.

Third quarter

Texas’ defense wasted little time in making an impact in the second half – on Florida’s second play from scrimmage, Collins deflected Warner’s throw to Mukuba, who came up with his third interception of the season and pinned senior cornerback Jahdae Barron tied for team leader.

However, on the first game the Longhorns played, Williams suffered a right leg injury that he could not put any weight on as he limped off the field. He was replaced by redshirt freshman Trevor Goosby. Although Goosby was promptly called for a false start, Texas responded when Bond took a swing pass, stepped through several arm tackles and scored a 34-yard touchdown.

Safe in the knowledge that Warner wouldn’t find much in the passing game, Florida settled for shortening the game with the run play on the ensuing possession, also taking advantage of a personal foul penalty on senior Jack and Barryn Sorrell for roughing Warner on a third down attempt.

The drive was successful by taking nearly six minutes off the game clock and entering the Texas red zone, where the Longhorns stayed on their 5-yard line and Napier settled for a 23-yard field goal to end a 456-game winning streak to keep. the Gators have scored dating back to 1988.

Texas redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning entered the game and made a signature shot play on 2nd and 15 after a holding penalty on Williams, who returned to the game. Against triple cover, Bond was contacted before the ball arrived but did not draw the penalty. On third down, Manning scrambled and delivered a nice throw to Blue down the sideline, but the Texas running back initially bobbled the ball and then couldn’t control the ball on the catch as it hit the ground.

Given a short field when Texas freshman Michael Kern’s kick was nearly blocked, Florida was able to pick up consistent yardage through the air and on the ground, culminating in a two-yard touchdown run.

The Longhorns were able to find some momentum on the ground to end the third quarter as Blue took the lead and made a defender miss on a 44-yard run, the longest of the season for Blue by

On the next play, freshman running back Jerrick Gibson picked up 12 yards on his seventh carry in conference play.

Fourth quarter

Gibson took advantage of his playing time on the first play of the fourth quarter, bouncing a punt off the left side behind Banks and finding a seam into the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown.

When Taaffe broke up a Florida third-down pass, the Gators went three and out, leading to a punt where Bolden hit hard away from the ball, drawing a 15-yard penalty. Bolden was good enough after the big collision to pick up 13 yards on a dynamic catch and run before the Horns were called for an ineligible man downfield penalty and Gibson fumbled the ball away on his next carry.

Florida produced another sharp scoring drive after the turn, needing seven plays to score a seven-yard rushing touchdown.

After the Gators’ final score, the Longhorns killed the final 8:21 with a 15-play drive that ended when Texas kneed the clock in Florida’s red zone to cap off the 49-17 victory.