Texas continues to find ways to win big games, but sloppiness could cost the Longhorns everything in the future

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Faizon Brandon was trapped. When Tennessee’s highly regarded freshman quarterback tried to sprint down the middle of the line, a white Texas jersey was there to force him back. When Brandon tried to retreat into an open space, another was waiting to drive him into the ground.

Colin Simmons, the Longhorns’ all-time passer, stood up after completing the sack and instead of doing the obvious thing — running toward the sideline after the Texas defense forced a three-and-out with all the momentum in the second quarter — showed why it’s hard to trust the nation’s No. 1-ranked team as a legitimate national title contender.

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Texas, of course, is talented enough to do it. But do the Longhorns have the discipline and accountability they’ll need in the crucible of a brutal SEC schedule and month-long playoff run?

Because it wasn’t just that Simmons’ celebration was aggressively stupid – surely you’ve already seen the simulated urination that warranted an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty like never before in a football game – it was that he was back on the field shortly after and on just about every defensive snap until Texas completed a 20-17 victory that became far messier than it needed to be.

But this is Texas under Steve Sarkisian: lots of good things. Way too much sloppy stuff. And ultimately, an organization that isn’t as strong as it should be if championships are the goal.

“I know we may not always be at our best and we may not always play very clean football,” Sarkisian said. “I get it, we’re held to a different standard than other places. But we win big games here. We do. I know we don’t win them all, but we win a lot of them.”

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It’s a fascinating experience. In this young season, Texas already has more than one win over Ohio State then took to the road in front of over 100,000 people and beat a Tennessee team ranked in the top 15 (although it remains to be seen if the Vols will ultimately be worthy of that designation).

No one is asking Sargsyan to apologize for his victories. They’re hard to get and they all count. But even if the resume looks impeccable, the product on the field often seems strange.

How did Texas win a game in which it committed 11 penalties, made two huge gaffes on special teams and was pretty dysfunctional on offense most of the day?

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Well, he won because of Simmons. He destroyed Tennessee’s offense, he made Brandon see ghosts all game long, he took the quarterback to the ground five times. He is a disruptor without equal in college football. He was everywhere.

“He’s the best defensive player in the country,” Texas linebacker Justin Cryer said. “He was unblockable today.”

But in many ways, Simmons’ infamous and unnecessary celebration will stick in the mind if Texas finds itself on the wrong end of a January game that is decided by a bad, undisciplined penalty that allows an inferior team to get away with it.

At this point, with five minutes left in the first half, some coaches would have sent Simmons straight to the locker room or at least sat him out a handful of plays to set a standard for what is and isn’t acceptable for a championship-level team.

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Not Sarkissian.

“We got him out, fixed it and got him back in,” he said. “At this point, I’m not going to give this guy the death penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. We’ve got to fix it. We can’t keep (doing that) as we move forward. … We’ve got to focus on the team and not ‘look at’ myself too much and we’ll try to improve on that. But five sacks was pretty cool, too.”

While there’s a pretty big gap between sitting a guy down during a series to send a message and the death penalty, it’s clear. You’d also be tempted to worry about Monday’s punishment, watching Simmons ragdoll everyone who tried to block him.

“He knows better,” Cryer said. “But you get five sacks a game, you can do whatever you want.”

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Simmons was the last Texas player to step into the interview room Saturday and apologize. But even then, after the first question about the penalty, longtime Texas sports information director John Bianco encouraged reporters to focus on the game. Which makes you wonder if, in fact, the lesson will be learned or if it will disappear like the smoke from the cigar of victory that Sargsyan had before him.

“I was definitely in that mode, feeling good, but it happens,” Simmons said. “We don’t stress that. Next play mentality, move on.”

If a few things had gone differently on Saturday, Texas wouldn’t have had the luxury of moving on after all those self-inflicted errors, including two Arch Manning passes that were called back for crossing the line of scrimmage and a big punt return called back because a player on the other side of the field from the returner flagged a fair catch.

It was a bit of a mess.

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And although it looked like Texas had finally unlocked its running game with a powerful push to take a 20-10 lead with 5:41 to play – Manning wasn’t a huge factor with 201 passing yards, an interception and six sacks taken – minutes later, the Longhorns found themselves on the brink of collapse.

Tennessee, which had scored its only touchdown via a punt return that the Longhorns didn’t cover very well, drove 80 yards in less than three minutes to get within a field goal. Then the Vols executed an unusual drop kick that Texas didn’t seem totally prepared for — Sarkisian wondered if it was against the rules — and returned the ball to midfield with 1:22 left.

Even though Texas took care of business from there, it was a victory in the eyes of the beholder.

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“It’s just a crazy deal,” Sargsyan said. “You give up a punt return, an onside kick and the next thing you know you’re fighting to finish a game.”

But now this is Texas. That’s the kind of games they play. And when they can walk off the field in a place like this with a win, the penalties, offensive line woes, special teams mistakes and red zone issues don’t matter.

Until they do.

“We have a lot of work to do, but at the end of the day it shows we have fight in us,” Simmons said. “We have heart in us, and that’s all that matters.”

Is this true? We will know in January.