Texas fans, take a deep breath. That’s all I’m asking.

The Texas Longhorns beat Mississippi State 31-3. They beat down on a Bulldogs team that will unfortunately fall to the bottom of the SEC because of multiple quarterback injuries. Somehow I’ve still seen way too many Texas fans clicking the panic button. The reality is simple: this is what Texas is.

And what Texas is, is a really good defense paired with an offense that has to popcorn a couple of explosive plays to put itself in a position to win. Honestly, it’s eerily similar to what Indiana is doing in the Big Ten. Nobody panics about Indiana winning that way. And Longhorn fans shouldn’t be panicking either.

The 31-3 score doesn’t tell the whole story for Texas

I get why people are freaking out. The final score doesn’t represent how the game actually looked. It took a big boy touchdown for Texas to go up 17-0 in the first half, and the offense was sporadic for long stretches.

And you may say, Tegan, how are you telling us to relax when the offense looked like that against a team down to its backup quarterbacks? Because this is who Arch Manning is.

Arch is not going to flip a switch and suddenly be able to read a defense. It’s not going to happen. I’ve accepted it, and a lot of Texas fans need to accept it as well. That isn’t me dunking on him. He’s athletically gifted, he can create with his legs and his arm, and that combination is exactly why he produces really good moments.

Those really good moments can show up against anybody. Arch can beat the best of the best when the explosives hit. Need I remind you, go look at Ohio State.

So the version of Texas you watched this weekend isn’t a broken team. It’s the same team it’s been all season. A defense that travels well, and an offense that lives and dies on a handful of big plays. That’s the formula. You can dislike that formula, but don’t act shocked by it.

Georgia is the only team that should scare Texas

There isn’t a team in this sport playing beyond perfect football, especially inside the SEC. Every contender has warts, and Texas is no exception.

If there’s one team that should make Texas shake in its boots, it’s Georgia. Kirby Smart has had the Longhorns’ number for multiple years at this point, and until Texas proves otherwise, that’s the matchup that keeps me up at night on their behalf.

Before any of that, though, we’ll learn a ton when Texas faces Missouri. I’m fascinated to see how this defense handles the Tigers’ two-headed monster of Ahmad Hardy and Jamal Roberts. Austin Simmons is also potentially looking like a No. 1 overall pick, so the Longhorns’ defense is going to be tested on every level. That’s the real measuring stick, not a blowout against a banged-up Mississippi State team.

A dominant win is a dominant win

Here’s the part that’s getting lost. Texas won, it won dominantly, and it did its job. You take that 10 times out of 10.

Look across the sport. Everybody has been snakebitten at some point this year by a team that had no business being competitive with them. Go look at Miami against North Carolina. Plenty of programs would trade places with Texas after a weekend like this one.

The Longhorns aren’t going to win pretty every week, and they don’t need to. They need the defense to hold up and the offense to pop a few explosives, and that’s exactly what happened against Mississippi State. Texas fans should live with that formula until Georgia proves it can’t work.

They did their job. Be happy.