Texas vs Tennessee: 6 Biggest Takeaways from Longhorns’ Win Over Volunteers

Saturday’s Week 4 college football slate kicked off with a fantastic SEC showdown between the Texas Longhorns and Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville. It was a battle between one of the most talented and experienced teams in the SEC against an up-and-coming Volunteers program.

All things considered, Texas vs Tennessee proved to be a great defensive battle between two excellent play-callers in Jim Knowles and Will Muschamp. Even in a low-scoring game, there were quite a few things to take away from this game and an insane, messy final few minutes.

Let’s dive into our biggest takeaways from Texas vs Tennessee at Neyland Stadium, with the No.1-ranked Longhorns returning to Austin with a 20-17 victory over the Vols.

Tennessee’s Xavier Gilliam is an All-SEC Defensive Lineman

There wasn’t a ton of attention nationally when Tennessee landed Penn State transfer Xavier Gilliam this offseason. Rated by 247Sports as a four-star transfer prospect, the 53rd-best player in the transfer portal, he’s blossomed into one of the best defensive linemen in the SEC this season. Gilliam entered Saturday with 5.5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in his first three games, blowing past his career totals (2 TFLs and 0.5 sacks) coming into the year. Facing one of the best offensive lines in the nation on Saturday, Gilliam finished the first quarter with 2 TFLs and a sack. Gilliam has simply been phenomenal in September, and the 6-foot-2 defensive tackle is an obvious leading candidate for first-team All-SEC honors in 2026.

Tennessee QB Faizon Brandon is a Year Away From Being Very Good

Let’s remember that Volunteers quarterback Faizon Brandon is just 18 years old and this was his first start against an SEC defense. As good as he looked earlier this season and as well as the Longhorns defense played, Brandon missed plenty of open receivers on Saturday afternoon. Learning to recognize those openings and showing better composure when pressured, most notably keeping his eyes downfield, will come with time. What Brandon did show in this matchup were the physical tools to be a special dual-threat quarterback, and he did an impressive job extending plays with his athleticism to avoid additional sacks.

There will be more growing pains for Brandon, but Tennessee fans should feel good about their future at quarterback. There should be even more confidence after what he showed late in the fourth quarter, looking so comfortable in the comeback situation and delivering a perfect touchdown strike to Mike Matthews. The Volunteers have a quarterback who can be very special, once he learns to start making smarter decision with the football and keeping his eyes downfield when the pocket starts collapsing.

Arch Manning’s Lack of Awareness is a Problem

If you thought Arch Manning’s awareness and decision-making were bad in press conferences, Texas vs. Tennessee provided a glimpse into something even more concerning between the ears. Illegal forward passes are pretty rare in college football, especially since the rules allow a quarterback to throw a pass as long as a single foot is behind the line of scrimmage. Manning was called for an illegal forward pass twice in the first half, with both attempts coming well past the line of scrimmage so that even the most casual observer spotted it right away. Manning also has to show a bit higher football IQ when it comes to protecting himself. Just as concerning from Saturday’s game, he was responsible for an unacceptable delay of game penalty that turned a 3rd-and-2 into a 3rd-and-7, with Texas having to settle for a field goal. We love the physical talent and he showcased it plenty on Saturday, especially in the first half (9-for-11, 127 passing yards, 11.5 ypa). We just came away from this showing having greater questions about his awareness.

Colin Simmons Is Texas’ Best Player

We said best, not smartest. Colin Simmons made an immature and foolish decision to celebrate his second sack of the first half with a celebration that would’ve earned him a five-figure fine in the NFL and turned a potential 4th-and-29 into an automatic first down for Tennessee. With that said, he was easily the most impressive player in this Texas vs. Tennessee matchup. Simmons is already up to 7 sacks on the season, well on his way to recording consecutive seasons with double-digit sacks. If we’re an NFL team, even factoring in positional value, Simmons would rank ahead of Manning on our draft board and this five-sack performance highlighted why.

Will Muschamp is Longhorns’ Most Important Coach

Games like these are why Texas hired Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator. Steve Sarkisian got outcoached by Jim Knowles, and the Longhorns’ special teams allowed Tennessee its lone touchdown on Saturday. Muschamp was the difference-maker. He held the Volunteers offense to 3-of-14 on third down (21.4% third-down conversion rate) and 136 total yards before that final touchdown drive against a prevent defense. Muschamp’s group was phenomenal at every level when they played aggressive, and he demonstrated why he should be the Longhorns defensive coordinator for a long time.

Longhorns’ Inconsistent Offense is a Concern

There are instances when this Longhorns offense looks good, as talented and efficient as you’d expect considering all of the money poured into it. We’ll also acknowledge that not having Hollywood Smothers on Saturday certainly didn’t help matters. With that said, Manning put up some great numbers in the first half and Texas only had 10 points to show for it. He also continued to have real issues when pressured, which happened far too much considering the reputation of the Longhorns’ offensive line. This version of Texas might be good enough to beat the likes of Florida, Missouri and Mississippi State, but we do worry about what will happen in the College Football Playoff if there isn’t more quarter-to-quarter consistency and improved play from Manning.