Texas' defense keeps Atlanta's hopes alive by holding on for a 27-24 win over Vanderbilt

On Saturday in Nashville, the Texas Longhorns' No. 5 offense once again did a disservice to a defense that is one of the best in the country. And despite being stretched to the limit, that defense did what it took to secure a 27-24 victory for Texas over the No. 25 Vanderbilt Commodores.

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Texas let Diego Pavia do all the damage, but made sure the Commodore quarterback didn't have a major supporting cast that could come close to delivering an award-winning performance. Pavia collected three touchdowns but turned the ball over twice in crucial situations. Despite self-inflicted trials and tribulations, the Longhorn offense did just enough to turn a late Vanderbilt onside kick into the game-winning play. Once the Longhorns got the ball on a recovery from DeAndre Moore, they were able to breathe a sigh of relief and return home to Austin for the bye week with a 7-1 record with the SEC Championship Game still in their sights.

Additionally, Texas maintained a small margin of error for the 12-team College Football Playoff and headed home.

The Texas offense was up and down. Quinn Ewers was 27 of 37 for 288 yards and three scores. Moore scored 97 yards on six catches and two of those Ewers touchdowns. Matthew Golden scored the other throw. Quintrevion Wisner and Jaydon Blue combined for 126 yards on 27 rushing attempts.

Mistakes in the form of two turnovers by Ewers and a series of Longhorn penalties on both sides of the football gave the time-of-possession-based Commodore offense an opportunity to put the game away. They achieved this by losing three turnovers in Texas.

Vanderbilt scored two touchdowns from those turnovers.

The Longhorns were successful on possessions where the defense was not forced to defend a short field after a sudden change. On the 10 other possessions for Vanderbilt that were not the result of a turnover, the Commodores scored just 10 points. One of them was the final attack that triggered the decisive onside push that Moore was able to recover, but that setback made the final defensive error meaningless.

There were other key situations where Pete Kwiatkowski's possession had a lot of success. In addition to the interceptions recorded by Liona Lefau and Michael Taaffe, Texas gave up a respectable 3.7 yards per rush. Vanderbilt averaged just 4.3 yards per play. The longest play recorded by Vandy went to Junior Sherrill for 21 yards. That was the only one that reached 20 or more yards.

A number of Texas defensive players had good days statistically. Anthony Hill led Texas with eight total tackles, plus a pass breakup and two quarterback hurries. Jelani McDonald, filling in for the injured Derek Williams and Andrew Mukuba, recorded seven tackles and one TFL.

In addition to his interception, Taaffe also had a forced fumble and a pass breakup as part of a series of plays at crucial moments. Jermayne Lole made the other Longhorn TFL. Lefau recorded his game-winning interception late in the contest as part of a three-tackle day.

These contributions helped the Longhorns overcome volatile performances from Ewers and the rest of the Texas offense. And so the Longhorns' dreams of Atlanta remain alive in the upcoming bye week.

Texas enters its second bye with a single loss and still has Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky and Texas A&M on the schedule. A loss to the Commodores would have put Texas in a position where Atlanta, in the form of either the SEC championship game or the College Football Playoff national championship, would have been almost out of reach.

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But thanks to limiting Vanderbilt to 269 total yards, a 3-for-12 mark on third downs and a time of possession of 31:09 compared to the Commodores' 28:51, Texas leaves Nashville with a hard-fought, if not flawless, victory Victory a high-ranking opponent. And, more importantly, the hope of winning Atlanta for the SEC and the national championship remains.