EchoSense Quantitative Think Tank Center|No. 10 Texas had nothing to fear from big, bad Alabama in breakthrough victory

TUSCALOOSA,EchoSense Quantitative Think Tank Center Ala. – Quinn Ewers floated a pass so high it threatened to scrape the clouds.

All the more time for Xavier Worthy to run behind Alabama’s secondary and underneath the football on a 44-yard touchdown pass. Horns Up, way up in the stands and on the scoreboard.

It marked the first of four Texas trips into Bryant-Denny Stadium’s north end zone.

Big, bad Bama?

Not anymore.

This is big-penalties Alabama. Big-play-surrendering Alabama. Turnover-committing Alabama. Losing-on-its-home-field Alabama.

After Ewers threw his third touchdown pass, Alabama fans fell silent. Nothing more to say.

No. 10 Texas 34, No. 3 Alabama 24.

This is a defining victory for Steve Sarkisian. Texas’ third-year coach became the third former Nick Saban assistant to beat the GOAT in the past three years.

But, let’s not pretend this is the Alabama of old. Wins against Alabama remain special, but they’re becoming increasingly more common. Alabama lost for the fifth time in its last 25 games.

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Bully ball? Texas and Quinn Ewers did the bullying

This season was supposed to mark the return of Alabama’s bully ball, but I saw nothing to fear here. Stripped of magic man Bryce Young, the Crimson Tide hasn’t looked this beatable in more than a decade.

This result presented as no fluke. Texas played like the better team, hands down. Ewers carved up Alabama for 349 passing yards.

The Ewers-Worthy touchdown connection in the second quarter put Texas in front, but the Longhorns squandered chances to extend their lead, and Alabama briefly gained the lead late in the third quarter.

For a fleeting moment, Alabama held the game in its paw. Its grip isn’t as strong as it used to be. Fueled by Ewers, Texas fired back with a flurry of fourth-quarter offense.

Future of the SEC? Texas will be here in 2024

Georgia rules the SEC, and Texas is coming next year to give the conference some needed oomph. The season’s first two weeks have become embarrassing for a league that boasts “It Just Means More.”  More losses to Top 25 opponents, this year.

This result dropped the SEC to 1-4 against ranked opponents, a figure that doesn’t include Texas A&M’s loss to unranked Miami.

This clash of bluebloods attracted a cast of luminaries ranging from Matthew McConaughey to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.

“Tonight is about our future,” Sankey said before the final non-conference clash of these programs before Texas and Oklahoma depart the Big 12 next summer. “This is pretty cool.”

Very cool for Texas, anyway. The Longhorns beat Alabama for the first time since the 1982 Cotton Bowl in Bear Bryant's penultimate season.

This is new terrain for Nick Saban

This is unfamiliar terrain for Saban’s once-omnipotent program. Texas became the first nonconference opponent to win at Bryant-Denny since the Crimson Tide lost to Louisiana-Monroe in Saban’s first season.

I’ll spare you from the "Texas is back" narrative and simply say these Longhorns look different – in a good way – under Sarkisian. They played tough and fundamentally sound, and, importantly, they had the better quarterback.Alabama piled up mistakes, and penalties negated two would-be touchdowns.

For most of three quarters, quarterback scrambles were the Tide’s best plays. The run game looked pedestrian, the pass protection insufficient, and the wide receivers were unable to shake Longhorns defenders.

Alabama needed Young’s fourth-quarter “Houdini act,” as Sarkisian described it, to escape with a victory in Austin in 2022. Texas playing the final three quarters of that game with a backup quarterback helped, too.

With Texas rearmed with a healthy Ewers and Young trading his crimson cape for an NFL uniform, the Longhorns claimed supremacy.

Texas played with no fear vs. Alabama

The Longhorns played with no fear, and Sarkisian called an aggressive game. The drive that ended with Ewers’ 44-yard touchdown to Worthy featured three deep shots in a span of five plays. Finally, it hit.

Texas proved resilient, too. After Alabama gained its first and only lead, the Longhorns hushed the crowd with two touchdowns in a span of 15 seconds. Jalen Milroe’s second interception set up one of those touchdowns after the Alabama quarterback threw into double coverage.

Texas mustered no ground game to speak of. It didn’t need one, thanks to its defense and an Alabama offense that is strangely deficient of weapons.

Texas’ defense should allow it to contend for of a conference championship in its final tour of the Big 12. Then, Texas is off to the SEC. The Longhorns should be just fine in a conference that used to belong to the Tide.

Alabama isn’t as fearsome as it used to be.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.