All wins are good wins when trying to enter the playoff field, with the expanded 12-team field changing the dynamic even more. I’m sure many people will be aware of the No. 5 Texas Longhorns’ 27-24 victory over the No. 25 Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville on Saturday, which came down to an onside kick, but I won’t be one of are them. That’s a much-improved Vanderbilt team under Clark Lea and they are certainly on the rise as a program.

Texas has missed opportunities to really pull away at various points in the ballgame, but all that matters at the end of the day is that you walked out of there with a win and you get into the bye week just in time to get healthy and be ready for when Florida comes into town in a few weeks.

The Longhorns are the only team in the top five that played a tight team today. No. No. 4 Ohio State squeaked by Nebraska in Columbus early in the day and it took a late interception off the arm of Huskers true freshman signal caller Dylan Raiola to put the game away. Sometimes games are won in ugly ways, but all that matters is that you get the victory and stay in the hunt.

Under head coach Steve Sarkisian, Texas remains in the hunt heading into the bye and back half of their schedule. Survival and advancement is the name of the game from now on.

Penalties and miscues made this match exciting

This was by far the most frustrating aspect of the game for Texas on Saturday – 10 penalties for 107 yards to Vanderbilt’s four penalties for 35 yards is how you end up getting into dogfights and ensuring games stay close. The Longhorns were able to move the ball up and down the field offensively against the Vanderbilt defense totaling 392 yards, but several times they shot themselves in the foot with untimely penalties that wiped big plays off the board and left them placed behind the sticks.

While the offense took its fair share of early penalties, one of the bigger ones came at the expense of the defense. On Vanderbilt’s final drive of the game, Texas defensive tackle Vernon Broughton was penalized for targeting a hit against quarterback Diego Pavia, negating a 72-yard interception return by Longhorns cornerback Kobe Black.

That penalty led to Broughton’s ejection from the match, making him ineligible for the first half of the Florida match. In addition to the ejection, extending the drive allowed the Commodores to put together their longest scoring drive of the game and put them in position to make an onside kick.

The penalties and miscues have been far too consistent from week to week for Texas and at some point this could jeopardize the College Football Playoff hopes for the Horns.

Quinn Ewers was better this week

Yes, I know someone will bring up the interceptions in the comments, but hear me out: 27 of 37 passing for 288 yards and three touchdowns is a much better performance than what you’ve seen from Ewers the past two games.

The first tipped pass that led to a turnover was the result of a push allowed by center Jake Majors along the inside line, while the other came on a free runner that seemed to be designed that way (I think the tight end released in the flat after showing a first block). You’d like Ewers to anticipate the defender putting his hands on the second, but I don’t blame him for the first since that pressure falls on the offensive line.

At one point, Ewers had 17 consecutive completions and he accomplished this by spreading it to eight different receivers over the course of the ballgame. He has moments where he seems indecisive and won’t let go of the ball, which has led to some issues at various points in the ballgame, but I’m not as down on Ewers as I’m likely to be after this performance.

The Texas defense played winning football

The defense deserves a game ball for the way they defended an offense that can be a real headache to prepare for. Everyone knows Pavia’s story by now and everyone has seen how well he runs the triple option-style attack that Vanderbilt deploys.

You have to be disciplined, play with good eyes, you have to secure the edges, take good angles and tackle well in space. Texas did that when he was burdened with it most of the night. Once again, the defense was handed double-decker poop sandwiches in the form of short fields with turnovers. Vanderbilt managed to convert this into points. Beyond that, Texas’ defense made sure Pavia and his offense earned everything and did a great job of preventing turnovers and limiting big plays.

Additionally, the Longhorns defense picked off Pavia twice (would have been three if not for the penalty) and also recovered a fumble. Pavia entered the game with only one interception on his ledger and was very good at protecting the football. According to Pro Football Focus, Pavia’s interception was his only turnover-worthy play this year.

Texas safety Michael Taaffe has been a key piece on the back end of the Longhorns defense all year, having a hand in two of the three forced turnovers.

Taaffe came up big in a match where Andrew Mukuba was ruled having already ruled out Derek Williams with a season-ending knee injury. The former walk-on was a great find for the Horns and current director of player personnel John Michael Jones.

Vanderbilt was known to do two things extremely well entering this match: they kept the ball away from the opposing offense by dominating time of possession and being very good at losing money. Texas won the time of possession battle (31:09 to 28:51) and held Vanderbilt’s offense to 4 of 14 conversions on the money. That’s a winning proposition when you’re playing against a team with such an identity.

By the way, I noticed true freshman Kobe Black came into the corner during the game on Saturday. Every time he appeared on my screen he made a play. He had the pick six that was called back and had a good PBU on a third down. If he starts to emerge, it will only strengthen the depth of the secondary for Texas.

DeAndre Moore Jr. makes a big appearance in Isaiah Bond’s absence

With Texas down their WR1 heading into this matchup, having someone in that receiver core step up in Nashville was critical to the offense. I thought it might have been true freshman Ryan Wingo who got the start with Bond out, but instead it was Deandre Moore who had his best game of the year against the Commodores.

Moore had six catches for 97 yards and had not one, but two touchdowns to pace Texas’ passing game.

After Saturday’s performance, Moore now leads the team with five touchdown receptions on the year and is starting to show that he will be accountable, along with the other weapons Ewers has. This was a big match for him and it was a performance certainly worthy of a match ball.

Texas still had some issues in pass protection

On the one hand, the protection by the offensive line wasn’t nearly as bad as last week. On the other hand, they had more troubling moments in this game against the Vanderbilt defense, which ranks at the bottom of the SEC in sacks and entered the game ranked 78th in tackles for a loss. The Commodores defense was credited with NINE tackles for a loss and wrangled Ewers for four sacks on Saturday.

The most troubling moment for me came when Texas was in slip protection and there was a miscommunication or outright misfire by Hayden Conner that led to a free runner right up the middle for an easy sack. Obviously some context needs to be applied since I’m not in the film room, but filling the gap and letting a defender run free is never the right thing to do in that situation.

Later, Cameron Williams was fouled in for a sack that further derailed a drive on which Texas had good momentum. This was a borderline one-on-one, major-versus-major matchup, and Williams was defeated.

Between the untimely penalties and the protection lapses, the offensive line will have to get some things right in the coming week. They still have a number of high-quality defensive units planned and you can bet each of them will be keeping an eye on the tape from the past few weeks.

Opponents have found something.

You make it to the second bye week of the season with a 7-1 record. You get time to heal the bumps and bruises and get guys like Mukuba and Bond back for Florida. Get healthy and ready for another freshman quarterback, but this one has a lot of physical tools even if he’s still trying to figure things out.

As usual, the 24-hour rule applies. Don’t let me catch you grumbling and being annoyed around these parts because of this. This team is still firmly in the playoffs and can still achieve all the goals they set out to achieve. It’s up to the Gators.