Tennessee’s offense was doomed to fail against Texas on Saturday afternoon thanks to something that was completely out of the Vols’ control.

The biggest reason Tennessee lost to Texas was because the Vols’ offensive line didn’t play well. It was probably the worst offensive line performance we’ve seen from Tennessee under Josh Heupel.

Texas has a stout defensive front — maybe the best in the nation — but I don’t think they were quite as all-world as they looked against Tennessee. And while the Vols’ offensive line definitely has to play better, I don’t think they’re quite as bad as they looked on Saturday.

I think we saw a Texas defense that was playing inspired football, and a Tennessee offensive line that was pressing a bit.

The reason Texas was inspired was because of an article from The Athletic that was published on Friday that called the Longhorns “soft.”

“They’ve got everything,” said a coach to The Athletic who has played Texas this season. “They look the part. They’re fast. They can bend. But they just don’t have an edge to ’em. They’re soft everywhere.”

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian referenced that article after the Longhorns’ win over the Vols.

“I do think we need to get healthy,” said Sarkisian. “We were a little banged up coming out of the game, and I think they were banged up, too. I think they had eight guys got carted off. So I’m not sure who wrote the article and what coach said we weren’t a physical football team, [but maybe] they want to write another article.”

Bulletin board material is a real thing. Keeping a team motivated for a full 60 minutes is one of the toughest things for a coach to do. And the comment from the anonymous coach that called Texas “soft” clearly did the trick for the Longhorns on Saturday in Knoxville.

(Side note: It sounded like Sarkisian was bragging about Texas injuring some of Tennessee’s players…not a good look.)