The Longhorn Republic

The Big 12 awards came out and fans of the Texas Longhorns felt like some of their favorite players were snubbed by the voters, so we took it into our own hands.

As we close out the regular season, we wanted to take a moment and reflect on the players that we felt should be recognized. From offensive and defensive Most Valuable Players, Most-Improved Player, and several custom awards for players we felt deserved special recognition. We dive in on the stats for some of our favorite performances of the year, reflect on what some of the biggest successes were in 2022, and spin that forward to the bowl game and beyond.

We also dive in on the sports news through our Burnt Orange Lenses, name an NFL Longhorn of the Week, and run through our latest streaming recommendations in the Godzillatron segment.

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Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0)

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The Texas Longhorns nearly fumbled away the game on Saturday, but leaned into their best players and came away with a statement victory over the Baylor Bears to close the regular season and send the seniors off in style.

It was fitting that in what is likely the final game at DKR for both Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson, they carried the ball on the final 24 plays of the game, scoring the touchdowns to put the game away in convincing fashion. In the same vein, once again the Texas run defense was stout, giving up just 101 yards to a Bears team that emphasizes the run, forcing the ball into the quarterback's hands.

The win secured Texas a three-game improvement over last year, hopefully setting the trajectory of the program for years to come.

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Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0)

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The Texas Longhorns return to Austin for the regular season finale, a pivotal matchup against the Baylor Bears on Black Friday.

In spite of frustrations this year, Texas has an opportunity to both end the season on a high note and keep their glimmer of hope for an appearance in Arlington alive. To do that, they will need to get their final revenge win of the year against the Bears, a team coming off of a heart-breaker loss to rival TCU. Will Dave Aranda's squad be able to rebound or will they come in flat?

Coming off of a dominant performance riding the run defense and Bijan Robinson, Texas could use a repeat performance in potentially inclement weather on Saturday. Can they replicate that performance or will they need more from other sources to get the job done?

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Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0)

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The Texas Longhorns went to Lawrence and grabbed another road win, running all over the Kansas Jayhawks and notching their seventh win of the season.

Running back Bijan Robinson put up a career performance and continued his climb up the Longhorns' record books, pacing Texas with his four-touchdown performance. It was one of the most dominant rushing performances in recent memory as the Longhorns found the footing they were missing a week ago.

On the defensive side of the ball, Texas had an answer for every wrinkle that the Jayhawks threw their way, shutting down an often potent ground game with relative ease. The performance in Lawrence highlights just how for the Texas rush defense has come year-over-year, likely finishing several hundred yards shy of their single-season total from 2021.

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Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0)

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The Texas Longhorns have two more games to prove the trajectory of the program is in the right direction and it starts with a road trip to Lawrence to take on the Kansas Jayhawks.

Kansas has lost four of the last five games after staring quarterback Jalon Daniels was sidelined with an injury, but the Jayhawks may have QB1 back in the fold for Saturday. The Texas defense had an all-time performance against TCU, but are they prepared for the shotgun, triple-option attack, regardless of who the quarterback is on Saturday?

Offensively, the Longhorns have a ton to prove after essentially not showing up to the stadium against TCU in another must-win game. If Quinn Ewers and Bijan Robinson want to end the season on a high note, then they must be able to get back on track after lackluster performances in prime time.

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Wescott Eberts and Cameron Parker preview the bowl-eligible Jayhawks on the latest Winning is Hard podcast.

They open with Wescott’s remaining takeaways from the Longhorns’ loss to TCU and their thoughts on Quinn Ewers, his footwork, and his development throughout the season.

Next, they discuss the bad Kansas Jayhawk defense but their ability to force opportunistic turnovers (12:00). Then they touch on KU’s explosive offense led by the strong play of quarterbacks Jason Beam and Jalon Daniels (22:00), their injury status, and the gameplan we might see from Texas on offense and defense (24:20).

Finally, predictions for Saturday’s game (33:00) and some light-hearted fun at the expense of Kyler Murray. Plus, Colt McCoy, Sam Ehlinger, and Cameron Dicker shoutouts!

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The Texas Longhorns' defense came into the game with TCU Horned Frogs ready to win a must-win game, but couldn't get matching energy from the offense in the frustrating loss.

Defensively, the Longhorns held TCU to their season-low scoring and yardage outputs, putting up season-high performances in sacks and scoring the only touchdown for Texas in the contest. The defensive performance was masterful and hopefully can be indicative of things to come for the remaining two games and the future under Pete Kwiatkowski.

However, the Longhorns turned in one of the worst defensive performances in recent memory, and one of the worst rushing performances in the history of Texas Longhorns football. The inaccuracy of Quinn Ewers on the deep ball allowed the Horned Frogs to box up Bijan Robinson and stymie the Texas offense.

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The newest Winning is Hard podcast dives in on what is wrong with Steve Sarkisian’s offense (2:00) and how concerned Wescott is with Quinn Ewers’ performance against TCU and overall the past few weeks (8:00). They tackle if Hudson Card should have received playing time in last week’s game and if he should get snaps going forward (14:00).

On a positive note, they discuss the impressive performance of Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense against the Horned Frogs (19:00) before concluding with Wescott’s final takeaways from the loss.

Hosts: Wescott Eberts and Cameron Parker

Producer: Cameron Parker

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The Texas Longhorns once again have an opportunity to break some new ground as the TCU Horned Frogs come to town on Saturday.

A year ago, Texas got its first win in Fort Worth since 2013 thanks to the Herculean performance of Bijan Robinson in the narrow victory. Now, the Longhorns have the opportunity to not only knock off the first top-five opponent at home since 1999, Texas can notch its first back-to-back wins over the Horned Frogs since TCU joined the conference in 2012. Texas is the Vegas favorite in this game, but the wins in this game don't always go the way conventional wisdom dictates.

So how can Texas manage to keep itself alive in the conference championship race, while ending the Horned Frogs' playoff hopes in the process? Will Bijan Robinson have another career game against the Horned Frogs, coming off of a 200-yard performance?

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Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0)

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For just the second time in the Steve Sarkisian era, the Texas Longhorns went on the road and came home with a victory, topping the Kansas State Wildcats to keep their hopes for a conference championship alive.

The Longhorns managed to slow down the Kansas State ground attack, knocking star Deuce Vaughn from the No. 2 spot in the conference. Defensively, Texas still has room to grow but is likely the reason Texas came away with a victory, combined with another career night from Bijan Robinson.

Robinson paced the offense, which once again went into the locker room at halftime with a lead, only to go dormant in the second half, putting up just two points in the final 30 minutes of the game. How can Texas remedy its second half offensive woes with TCU on the horizon?

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Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0)

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