On Sept. 9, University of Texas (UT) Longhorns head football coach Steve Sarkisian won the battle between protégé and mentor when his previously No. 11 program stunned old boss Nick Saban and the vaunted, then-No. 3-ranked University of Alabama (UA) Crimson Tide 34-24 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“Love to see it,” the Austin-based public university said in a postgame Facebook post.
CBS Sports reported that Sarkisian, a former assistant coach under Saban, became the third branch of the latter’s coaching tree to secure a win against him. The upset victory also avenged UT’s loss last year to the Crimson Tide at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (DKR) in Austin.
"I told the team before the game – and we didn't waver from it – we were going to be aggressive," Sarkisian, who once patrolled the Alabama sidelines alongside Saban, said, per CBS Sports. "We were going to stay aggressive. … You have to try to win the game.”
For second-year Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, the win was the completion of unfinished business. Injured in last season’s tilt, Austin ABC station KVUE News reported, Ewers turned in a 349-passing-yard, three-score performance in what’s arguably considered the biggest win for the Longhorns on Sarkisian’s watch. UT will see the Crimson Tide a lot more once it officially joins the Southeastern Conference (SEC) next year.
According to CBS Sports, the Longhorns were clinging to a 27-24 lead with 11 minutes left in the game when Ewers, who originally eschewed his current team for Ohio State years ago after starring at a high school in North Texas, and the offense proceeded to keep the ball – and the contest – out of their hosts’ reach by eating 7:18 off the clock. The Longhorns’ empathic win erased Alabama’s 21-game winning streak at Bryant-Denny Stadium in addition to its 57-game winning streak against nonconference opponents in regular-season action that dates back to the presidency of George W. Bush, CBS Sports reported. ESPN reported that UT will enter its Sept. 16 home game against the University of Wyoming (UW) ranked No. 4 in The Associated Press (AP) college football poll.