From starters down to walk-ons, the Texas defense delivers a shutout performance

Entering Texas’ last non-conference game versus Sam Houston State, the Longhorns were No. 17 in the nation in scoring defense. Texas allowed just 10.3 points per game, one of the best marks in the country. Against the Bearkats, the Longhorns allowed 10.3 points fewer than their season average.

[Sign up for Inside Texas TODAY and get the BEST Longhorns coverage!]

Texas blanked Sam Houston State, 55-0. The Bearkats found no success on offense. Texas allowed just 113 total yards made up from 86 passing yards and 27 rushing yards. Phil Longo’s Air Raid offense averaged a paltry 2.2 yards per play and a horrendous 6.6 yards per completion. It was the type of performance expected from an elite defense against an offense swimming upstream from the time it took the field.

“Defensively, just stifling defense,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “The ability to get off the field on third down, I think it helped that we were playing really good on first and second down. Ten TFLs and five sacks.”

No matter who was on the field, whether it was the starters, the second-stringers, the backups, or the walk-ons like Sarkisian’s son Brady, Longhorn defenders shut down Sam Houston.

Brady Sarkisian notched 0.5 TFL on Saturday, part of that 10-TFL, 5-sack performance put together by the Longhorns. “A cool dad moment,” Steve Sarkisian said.

Sam Houston only ran 51 plays. Texas had 43 tackles on the night with 31 of them solo.

The one oddity from the dominant performance was that Texas’ only forced turnover was via a Jelani McDonald interception that came on SHSU’s end-of-half heave before the intermission. Most defensive backs would have batted it down, but McDonald wanted to put another opposing team’s football through Texcalibur.

McDonald has now found a home at safety after bouncing between positions during his Texas tenure, and he’s performing at a level that’s pleased Sarkisian.

“He’s communicating at a high level, but his playmaking ability is obviously elite,” Sarkisian said. “He’s a great tackler, probably one of our best tacklers on our team. His ball skills are really good. His confidence and who he’s become as a leader I think has probably been the most impressive thing.”

The defense has been well ahead of Texas’ offense in recent weeks. That 10.3 points per game allowed is down to 7.8 now, but the fact that it was at 10.3 even with a matchup against Ohio State is impressive. As Arch Manning and the other members of the offense sputtered, the defense continued to carry Texas to victory.

And, according to Sarkisian, those offensive struggles never caused any sort of riff in his program.

“Never once did I hear one of those guys moan and groan about what’s going on on offense,” Sarkisian said. “It was picking those guys up. It was going over to Arch, it was going over to Brandon Baker, or Ryan Wingo, or whoever was, and picking those guys up. That’s the sign of a great team. Never through this couple of weeks stretch where we just couldn’t get going offensively did we get fragmented. I think what it did was bring us closer together.”

There was no chance for a splintering on Saturday. While the Texas defense was limiting Sam Houston State to just over 100 yards, the Longhorn offense boasted over 600. Texas lit up the scoreboard. Sam Houston State had their offense extinguished in a shutout.

“We wanted it so badly,” Michael Taaffe said of the shutout. “Especially in DKR. The fans deserved it. Our D-line deserved it. They’ve been stopping the run all season, it’s been awesome to play behind. When you don’t have a guard or a center double-teaming or climbing up to you because they have to worry about the tackles, it makes our job so much easier.”

Sarkisian said postgame that over 75 players made their way into the game in front of 103,003 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. That included this from the defense, according to the official stats (plus one or two additions):

1. Ethan Burke
2. Colin Simmons
3. Hero Kanu
4. Maraad Watson
5. Anthony Hill
6. Liona Lefau
7. Jaylon Guilbeau
8. Graceson Littleton
9. Jelani McDonald
10. Malik Muhammad
11. Michael Taaffe
12. Kade Phillips
13. Zelus Hicks
14. Brad Spence
15. Justus Terry
16. Zina Umeozulu
17. Derek Williams
18. Jordon Johnson-Rubell
19. Caleb Chester
20. Ty’Anthony Smith
21. Wardell Mack
22. Santana Wilson
23. Elijah Barnes
24. Brady Sarkisian
25. Myron Charles
26. Jonathan Cunningham
27. Graham Gillespie
28. Lance Jackson
29. Ziky Umeozulu
30. Eric Garza
31. Travis Shaw
32. Smith Orogbo
33. Marshall Landwehr
34. Melvin Hills
35. Trey Moore
36. Jonah Williams
37. Josiah Sharma
38. Colton Vasek
39. Isaiah Coleman
40. Lavon Johnson
41. Cole Brevard

The Texas Longhorns remain in the College Football Playoff conversation because of their defense. It’s a defense that has stayed together with the rest of the team in spite of reasons to fragment. It’s a defense that has answered the bell at every opportunity. It’s a defense that has 20-25 players Sarkisian and company can trust in-game against high level opponents.

And it’s a defense that, on Saturday, shut out Sam Houston State.