Saturday must’ve been a coach’s dream scenario. No. 2 Texas dominated its opponent, won in convincing fashion, and yet it still wasn’t perfect.

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is aiming for “60 minutes of hell.” His Longhorns gave about 55 and change.

Michigan’s garbage-time touchdown with 1:54 remaining was the first touchdown of any kind Texas has allowed this season. Sure, fans were elated, but defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and his staff were probably equally deflated at the 31-12 final score.

Woe is the next opponent who gets in the Longhorns’ way. And that happens to be an overmatched UTSA squad led by fifth-year coach Jeff Traylor, who said Monday this Texas bunch is the “best team we’ve ever played since we’ve been here.”

“We need to go to another level with our killer instinct,” Sarkisian told UT reporters on Monday, “and we need to be more relentless in the fourth quarter of these types of games. The game’s in hand, and that’s OK that it’s in hand, but that doesn’t mean that’s how it has to go and give up a touchdown and not get first downs.

“The game just felt like we only played three quarters,” he added. “I want to play 60 minutes. I want to make it 60 minutes of hell for our opponents, and we have a roster that can do that.

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It was obvious by Michigan’s play-calling the Wolverines weren’t just going to run out the clock and hustle home.

The maize-and-blue offense went no huddle and ran a shotgun spread attack in the last five minutes of a game that was, for all intents and purposes, already over. Michigan pieced together an eight-play, 78-yard scoring drive in 2:55 to cut down the lopsided score.

“Obviously, we went out there to dominate and that was the goal,” defensive end Barryn Sorrell said. “And obviously, with giving up that touchdown, it didn't feel like a domination within that place. So that kind of wasn't a good feeling for us, but it happens, and we'll keep moving forward.”

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Linebacker David Gbenda said film review showed some great run stops but also “a lot of misalignments that I could have aligned better on, and those tackles I should have made.

“But regardless of that, what that means for our team is just to finish it, finish it out,” Gbenda said. “Because I feel like the it was a lot of meat left on the bone going against Michigan.”

Defense must keep foot on opponents’ necks

Safety Michael Taaffe said he watched defensive lineman Vernon Broughton make a tremendous play on quarterback Davis Warren. Gbenda pancaked the Michigan center and made an awesome tackle. The defensive pursuit was noticeable.

“Every single one of us was trying to get in on the action,” Taaffe said.

Defense is about imposing your will on an opponent. Sure, Texas has improved defensively in recent years, going from 100th nationally in Sarkisian’s first year in 2021 to 35th last year in total defense. But it hasn’t figured out how to deliver consistent knockout blows.

“Too many times in the past, the last four years that I've been here, have we let teams crawl back in in the second half,” Taaffe said. “It’s just a matter of, you know, pride that you got to have in yourself to where it's like you want to take that opponent's soul.”

Did Texas take Michigan’s soul last Saturday?

“No, they scored in the fourth quarter. So I don't think we did that,” Taaffe said.

“I think they probably went to bed Saturday night knowing that they’re gonna wake up Sunday morning pretty sore,” Taaffe added. “But, you know, we preach winning the fourth quarter, and we didn't win the fourth quarter.”