Quinn Ewers throws three touchdowns as No. 5 Texas defeats No. 25 Vanderbilt 27-24 in “Culture” victory

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Texas coach Steve Sarkisian saw his Longhorns and quarterback Quinn Ewers bounce back from a tough loss to Georgia last week.

Ewers shook off an early pass for an interception and completed 17 straight passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday the fifth-ranked Longhorns beat No. 25 Vanderbilt 27-24 in their away debut in the Southeastern Conference.

Sarkisian called this a “culture” and “toughness” win for his Longhorns.

“We knew it would take 60 minutes against this type of team, and it's always good to win on the road, and like I said, this was a good football team,” Sarkisian said of Vanderbilt. “It wasn’t a coincidence that they were 25th in the country.”

Vanderbilt (5-3, 2-2) snapped a three-game winning streak in its first game in the Top 25 since the 2012 Music City Bowl. This was the Commodores' first regular season game as a ranked team since October 18, 2008, when they played three games as a top 25 team.

They had a chance late when Diego Pavia threw two touchdowns after Texas took a 24-10 lead in the third. Pavia's second TD pass, an 8-yarder to Eli Stowers with 46 seconds left, brought Vanderbilt to 27-24.

Texas easily recovered Vanderbilt's onside kick attempt and secured the win.

“It breaks my heart that I came up short,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said.

The Longhorns slowly gained the lead when a holding penalty on the opening kickoff was followed by a pass from Ewers that was deflected by Martel Hight. Vanderbilt previously only needed five plays Pavia scrambled 18 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

On the Longhorns' next drive, he threw a 3-yard touchdown to Matthew Golden, and late in the first quarter he connected with DeAndre Moore Jr. for a 27-yard touchdown to give Texas a 14-7 lead and never lost lost.

Arch Manning didn't miss a beat after coming into the game against Georgia.

“He played really well,” Sarkisian said of Ewers. “If he plays like that the rest of the year, we’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

The Texas quarterback found Moore again for a 25-yard catch-and-run down the left sideline for a 21-7 lead in the second half. Ewers didn't miss his shot until the final minute of the first half.

Pavia threw for 143 yards and ran for another 67 yards and a score. After Miles Capers' interception, Pavia attempted to rally Vanderbilt and found Junior Sherrill on fourth-and-goal with a 3-yard TD pass late in the third.

Texas linebacker Liona Lefau intercepted Pavia's pass on fourth-and-2 with 5:05 left and set up Bert Auburn's second field goal with 3:11 left.

“We obviously fell short and that was unfortunate,” Lea said.

Impact on the survey

Texas didn't score many style points for the Longhorns' first road win in the league, but Vanderbilt had lost its first two games by a total of seven points. One can argue that the Commodores deserve to stay at the bottom AP Top 25 after the 3-1 win in October.

The takeaways

Texas: The Longhorns gave up four sacks and played sloppy with 10 penalties for 108 yards. They overcame that by defeating Vandy 392-269.

Vanderbilt: The Commodores showed their win over Alabama on Oct. 5 was no fluke, losing by just three points to a top-five team. They finished play on October 3rd and 1st and their three losses this season are by a combined 10 points.

Next

Texas has an open date before hosting Florida on Saturday, Nov. 9, while Vanderbilt next visits Auburn.

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