If any Longhorn is still down in the dumps about what happened Saturday, all they have to do is remember what happened last season.

Texas lost to Oklahoma on Oct. 7 last year in the Red River Showdown. Season over? Hardly. Steve Sarkisian’s club ripped off six straight victories to reach the Big 12 championship game, beat Oklahoma State to win the league title and advanced to the College Football Playoffs.

That’s why when the players went into the locker room after the 30-15 loss to Georgia, receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. asked the room, “Why’s it so quiet in here?”

Linebacker David Gbenda, now playing his sixth season, spoke up and addressed his teammates. This season, he told them, is far from over. Gbenda is already pumped for No. 25 Vanderbilt (5-2, 2-1 SEC). 

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“I just felt like it had to be said and just a message of positivity,” Gbenda told reporters on Monday. “This wasn’t going to define our season. We left a lot out there, and I just wanted the team to know that we still have everything in front of us. We just need to keep on working day in and day out.”

Gbenda said the younger players were especially quiet.

“They have been taking it really hard, and they’re just getting introduced into this culture and understanding what it takes,” Gbenda said. “So them taking it hard is also a great sign, because that just shows how great of a team we want to be, just from top down.”

Gbenda has been inside the program long enough to see bad teams collapse, good teams hang in there and championship teams rise from the ashes.

Gbenda was on the 2019 team that fell apart in the season’s second half and finish 8-5. The 2020 team had internal issues after “The Eyes of Texas” saga triggered a coaching change. The 2021 team lost six straight and finished 5-7. But 2022 was better as it was obvious the Horns were improving. Then came last season’s breakthrough.

As bad as Georgia loss feels, Texas football still controls its destiny with Vanderbilt next and big SEC games ahead

Texas is no longer undefeated and, come midday Sunday when the polls are updated, will no longer be ranked No. 1. Neither of those things matter to coach Steve Sarkisian, though. Nor should they matter to Longhorns fans. Texas (6-1, 2-1 SEC) is still in contention for the SEC championship game and the 12-team College […]

“It's helped me a lot, because being in those tough situations, you learn a lot about people, and you learn a lot about your team,” Gbenda said. “And I fully believe that this team is different. We’re talented, and the sky’s the limit for us.

“Going from the past to looking at it now, I just understand that this wasn’t going to define our season. It’s helped us to formulate sort of a plan of how to really bounce back and adjust areas to clean up as opposed to in the past” when Texas couldn’t get out of a rut.

Senior center Jake Majors has seen all the ups and downs, too. His first plan of action was to take accountability for the offensive line’s mistakes and work to get better.

“I thought that we did not play to our standard,” Majors said. “ Like I said last week, we had a lot of respect for those guys. They’ve been the pinnacle of college football defense with Kirby Smart. So a lot of credit to them and how they prepared. But from our standpoint as offense, our standard was not met.”

Majors said quarterback Quinn Ewers has been even keeled in the days after the loss. The Horns need that from their offensive leader, too.

“Really proud of the way that he handled it,” Majors said. “He’s got to control what we can control. And I know that he’s voiced to me that. He’s ready to get to work this week. and get back on the right foot.”