Texas’s Quinn Ewers threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns and the defense held Vanderbilt to 269 total yards, as the No. 5 Longhorns knocked off the 25th-ranked Commodores 27-24, in Southeastern Conference play at Nashville on Saturday.
The Longhorns entered the day ranked No. 1 in scoring defense (9.7 points per game) and total defense (237.3 yards per game) and it showed as Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia had a season-worst day (16-of-29, 143 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions).
Vanderbilt, which had turned it over just twice all season, coughed it up three times on Saturday.
Wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. caught two first-half touchdowns for Texas (7-1, 3-1 SEC), which never trailed after the first quarter.
Texas’s Bert Auburn hit a 40-yard field goal to extend the Longhorns’ lead to 24-10 with 8:54 left in the third quarter.
Vanderbilt (5-3, 2-2) then went three-and-out for fifth time in its eighth drive but Randon Fontenette tipped a Ewers pass and Miles Capers corralled it at the Longhorn 38.
On fourth-and-goal from the 3, Pavia threaded a throw through several Longhorns into the hands of Junior Sherrill for a touchdown that got the Commodores within seven.
A Khordae Sydnor sack forced a Longhorn punt, but Texas’s Liona Lefau picked Pavia and returned it six yards to the Vandy 29 on fourth-and-2 on the Commodores’ ensuing possession.
Auburn’s 23-yard field goal with 1:57 left extended the lead to 10.
Vandy’s Pavia connected with Eli Stowers on an 8-yard score with 46 seconds left but the onside kick failed.
Texas led 21-10 at the half thanks to forcing two turnovers and Ewers hitting 19-of-21 throws for 211 yards and three scores.
On the Longhorns’ first possession, linebacker Langston Patterson tipped Ewers’ pass and then Vanderbilt’s Martel Hight grabbed it and returned it 4 yards to the Texas 31.
On a third-and-8 play off Vanderbilt’s ensuing drive, Pavia couldn’t find a receiver and out-ran the Longhorn pass rush down the right sideline for an 18-yard score.
Texas tied it when Ewers hit Matthew Golden with a 3-yard scoring strike.
The Longhorns took the lead on its next trip when Ewers found Moore with a 27-yard scoring toss with 1:13 left in the first quarter.
Ewers later engineered a 5-play, 59-yard scoring drive, ending when he hit Moore down the left sideline for a 25-yard score and a 14-point lead.
Vanderbilt’s Sedrick Alexander fumbled at the Texas 43 with a minute to play in the half, but the Commodores forced a punt and ended the half with Brock Taylor’s 54-yard field goal.
Texas’s Vernon Broughton was flagged for targeting with 1:14 left in the game for a hit on Pavia that wiped out Kobe Black’s interception return touchdown and gave Vanderbilt a shot at the end.
