Lost in the hoopla of Texas’ win over Clemson in the College Football Playoffs was the fact that Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik had a great day. Outstanding, frankly.

The Clemson quarterback from Austin had a huge homecoming, throwing for 336 yards with three touchdowns. It was the best day anyone’s had this season against the No. 2 pass defense in the nation.

Nobody in burnt orange seemed to care, though. The CFP is just like NCAA’s March Madness. Survive and advance. Style points are irrelevant, right? Well, some Longhorns were unnerved.

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“Jahdae (Barron) is on the phone with me at 10 p.m. after the game,” Texas safety Michael Taaffe said. “He’s like, ‘Dude, I just watched it. We need to get better. Like, we need to start tomorrow as early as 8 a.m. and start getting better and go to the drawing board and go back to where we always have been the last 13 games, because that wasn’t good enough.’

“That wasn't our standard.”

The Longhorns’ run defense played well enough. The Tigers managed just 76 rushing yards, but that also wasn’t a huge surprise. Clemson’s running back room had been hit with multiple injuries. The whole thing rested on Klubnik’s shoulders.

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Klubnik completed 26 of 43 passes and did enough to keep Clemson in the game for the duration.

Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt may not be as polished as Klubnik; Leavitt ranks 51st nationally in yards per game (221.9) while Klubnik is 19th (259.9). But Leavitt doesn’t have to be. Leavitt can rely on dynamo Cam Skattebo, a dynamic rushing and receiving threat out of the backfield.

“We might have won the game, but we didn’t play good enough, and so our whole team is hungry at the right time,” Barron said of the Clemson win. “I love that. Not only did we win, but we won and we’re still learning from failure of getting balls caught on us that usually doesn't happen.

“So we address those issues as a team, and we’re moving forward with hunger in our heart and wanting to come out and play the way we should.”

Shoring up communication issues in the secondary is a priority for the defensive backs. Linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. said he knew the Horns must “fine tune some things in zone coverage.”

“It was a couple little busts, and we’ll all say that we take accountability for those busts,” Hill said. On longer down-and-distance situations, Hill said players must get low and remember their landmarks on drops back into zone coverages.

Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said “what I learned from the Clemson game” is the Longhorns must be on point and lean on their preparation. This defense must be playing the right way “to take whoever we’re playing’s best shot.”

“It reminds these guys that these quarterbacks that are athletic and accurate,” Kwiatkowski said. “We’ve got to do a good job of making them feel uncomfortable and do everything in our power to try and keep them from scrambling around where it now gets into plaster drill and guys can create space or take advantage of the dead areas in our zones.”