The Texas Longhorns beat No. 3 Alabama, 34-24, on Saturday. After the win, the Longhorns look poised for a run at the College Football Playoff.
What were the biggest reasons Steve Sarkisian had the edge over Nick Saban?
No. 3 reason Texas beat Alabama: Ja'Tavion Sanders
This could have ended up going to Xavier Worthy in this game but Ja'Tavion Sanders had a more complete game. Still, Sanders gets the headline due to the fact that he was able to control the field for extra yards.
He was not the best blocker in this game but he was certainly successful in the passing game. It was tempting to pick Worthy here but outside of the one TD big catch he had, the wide receiver did not have a lot of receiving yards.
Still, at the end of the day, it was an amazing day for all of Texas' playmakers.
No. 2 reason Texas beat Alabama: Defense capitalized on poor throws
Jalen Milroe was not on point for the Tide in this game. To be fair, at times he was able to provide his arm for long throws but he didn't have a good night at the office.
Due to the fact that he is a kid and that he will ripped apart for the next couple of days, let's try to be nice to him by not glaring at his faults too much in this article. Still, it's very fair to say that Texas secondary was able to capitalize on his poor throws.
Jerrin Thompson and Jahdae Barron were both able to make excellent reads on Alabama's QB to get interceptions. Barron's interception actually led to extremely good field position which allowed the Longhorns to score an easy touchdown. Texas needed this interception and the other one due to the fact that Alabama's secondary at times was putting the locks on Quinn Ewers and company.
No. 1 reason Texas beat Alabama: Quinn Ewers
Quinn Ewers was able to overcome a strong Alabama secondary on his way to nearly 350 passing yards.
Last season, the Longhorns lost Ewers in the middle of the game against Bama. While Texas does have other reasons that they lost to Alabama in that game, the main one was the fact that Ewers was not healthy.
In this one, Ewers was fully healthy for the entire game and showed it as he threw for three touchdowns. The running game for Texas wasn't really present so it became dependent on Ewers to pull the Longhorns to the victory. Ewers did and he now leads a team that is among the best in the country.