KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The top-ranked Texas Longhorns knew just how to celebrate their latest win over Tennessee after their first visit to Neyland Stadium.
Break out the victory cigars.
“It's just kind of a little bit of a tradition here at Tennessee, so we had cigars or somebody had cigars in there,” coach Steve Sarkisian said. “I’m not certain. So my suit’s probably going to stink whenever I get on the plane.”
Colin Simmons tied the program record with five sacks as Texas held the 14th-ranked Volunteers 20-17 on Saturday with President Donald Trump on hand.
The cigar tradition stems from the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry, which Arch Manning's uncle Peyton played in for the Vols in the 1990s.
“It’s not about me,” the Texas quarterback said. “I didn’t play very well, but our team played great. Defense played well.”
Raleek Brown ran for 67 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and his 4-yarder with 5:41 left gave the Longhorns (4-0) the winning margin in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. Giannis Spetic kicked a pair of field goals.
“We win big games around here, we do,” Sarkisian said. “I know we don’t win them all, but we won a lot of them. And what an incredible performance by our defense.”
Texas dominated defensively with 10 sacks, led by Simmons. The linebacker's day for the record books also will be remembered for his vulgar celebration after one sack. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct with the referee saying Simmons was "simulating" using the restroom.
“We took him out, we addressed it and put him back in,” Sarkisian said. “At that point, I’m not going to give the guy a death penalty over an unsportsmanlike conduct. We got to fix it, though. That can't continue.”
Tennessee quarterback Faizon Brandon made it interesting late, capping an 80-yard drive with a 30-yard TD pass to Mike Matthews with 1:22 left. Linebacker Arion Carter recovered the onside kick, and Jelani McDonald batted away Brandon’s Hail Mary pass to Travis Smith Jr. in the end zone on the final play.
Sarkisian called it a crazy finish to a game in which Texas also gave up a 57-yard punt return by Qua Moss for a TD. Sarkisian took a timeout that gave Tennessee a second chance at the onside kick after sending the first out of bounds.
“Next thing you know you're fighting to finish a game, which we were able to do,” Sarkisian said.
Manning threw for 201 yards while being sacked six times. He also was intercepted once with the Longhorns needing the smothering defensive performance on a day with too many penalties, including two illegal forward passes by Manning.
Tennessee (3-1) hadn't beaten The Associated Press' No. 1 team since 1985, and that drought continues.
“Up front we weren’t good enough,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said. “Quarterback was not good enough. We didn’t play smart enough, but I’ll take the effort.”
Record performance
Simmons matched the five sacks by Shane Dronett for Texas against Texas Tech in 1990.
The takeaway
Texas: The Longhorns have lots to clean up, particularly when it comes to penalties they can control. They piled up 11 for 115 yards with seven of those in the first half. Jermaine Bishop Jr. wiped out his own 22-yard punt return in the third quarter with a fair catch signal that officials noticed.
Tennessee: The Vols came in 14th nationally in total offense at 516.3 yards per game. They came nowhere near that with Brandon surviving a beating in his SEC debut. Brandon finished 17 of 29 for 145 yards. He didn't talk to reporters after the game.
Heupel said the freshman “didn’t get rid of it when he needed to get rid of it.”
Up next
Texas has a week off before playing Oklahoma in Dallas on Oct. 10.
Tennessee hosts Auburn on Oct. 3.
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