Texas finally won a big one at night. The Longhorns knocked off No. 7 Ole Miss 34-27 in an impressive win, and with their backs against the wall, Steve Sarkisian and this coaching staff figured out how to win the kind of game that has slipped away from them before.

The Ole Miss Rebels never led once, and Arch Manning looked better than he has in weeks. Now, if you only look at the box score, you might think Texas lost this game. Some parts of it are deceiving, so let’s walk through them.

Texas went 3-of-13 on third down. The Longhorns turned the ball over three times. Then you throw in 134 penalty yards compared to 58 for Ole Miss. So how in the world did Texas win this game, let alone build a 21-point lead in the second quarter?

Texas found its formula on the ground

The answer is Raleek Brown and Michael Terry III. Those two combined for roughly 190 rushing yards, and that made the difference.

Without Hollywood Smothers, Brown had not played like the bell cow this offense needs, and we saw that against Tennessee. Against Ole Miss, he flipped the script completely. And this wasn’t some soft run defense. Ole Miss had just shut down Missouri running back Jamal Roberts.

That’s the biggest takeaway I have from this game. If Texas runs the football, it can play with anybody in college football. When the run game works, Arch doesn’t have to win the game by himself.

And speaking of Arch, it was better. Was it perfect? Far from it. He finished 18-of-30 for 212 yards with one touchdown pass and two interceptions, plus two rushing touchdowns. You’re going to see the bad interceptions in this one, and nobody should pretend they weren’t there.

You may say, Tegan, how is two picks an improvement? Here’s my answer. His receivers took real yardage away from him. He threw a beautiful deep ball to Ryan Wingo, and he put another one right on Cam Coleman, who flat-out dropped it. Cam Coleman’s fit in this offense, or lack of one, is a story for another day. Still, Arch’s stat line undersells how well he threw the deep ball.

The defense made Ole Miss one-dimensional

This is where I’m most impressed. Holding Ole Miss under 27 points would be impressive enough. The real win was making the Rebels one-dimensional.

Texas shut down Kewan Lacy, and that put all the pressure on Chambliss. The Longhorns made his life difficult all night and forced multiple turnovers. That’s your best chance to beat Ole Miss, because you’re not holding this offense under 24 points. It doesn’t happen. So giving up 27 is manageable, as long as your offense finally supports the defense. Texas got that support against Ole Miss.

The glaring flaws are still evident, even after a big win

Now for the last thing, and it isn’t positive. For anything good in this world, Texas needs a new game plan on onside kicks.

Twice now in key moments, a team trailing Texas by 10 has gotten a shot to tie the game because the Longhorns couldn’t handle an onside kick. That’s brutal. And honestly, special teams as a whole has been a question mark for this team. It’s the thing that worries me most when I think about Texas as a national title contender. That unit has to be better across the board if the Longhorns want to make the leap to elite.

I also still think Sarkisian probably needs to get an offensive coordinator. A 3-of-13 day on third down doesn’t make that conversation go away.

This was still a really good win with Texas’ backs against the wall. The Longhorns showed they can beat a top-10 team when the run game carries the offense and the defense takes the opponent’s best weapon away. If Texas cleans up the penalties, the turnovers, and special teams, it can play with anybody left on its schedule. I believe that after this game.