Texas's Quinn Ewers threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns and the defense held Vanderbilt to 269 total yards, as the No. 5 Longhorns knocked off the 25th-ranked Commodores 27-24, in Southeastern Conference play at Nashville on Saturday. The Longhorns entered the day ranked No.
1 in scoring defense (9.7 points per game) and total defense (237.3 yards per game) and it showed as Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia had a season-worst day (16-of-29, 143 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions).
Vanderbilt, which had turned it over just twice all season, coughed it up three times on Saturday. Wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. caught two first-half touchdowns for Texas (7-1, 3-1 SEC), which never trailed after the first quarter.
Texas's Bert Auburn hit a 40-yard field goal to extend the Longhorns' lead to 24-10 with 8:54 left in the third quarter. Vanderbilt (5-3, 2-2) then went three-and-out for fifth time in its eighth drive but Randon Fontenette tipped a Ewers pass and Miles Capers corralled it at the Longhorn 38. On fourth-and-goal from the 3, Pavia threaded a throw through several Longhorns into the hands of Junior Sherrill for a touchdown that got the Commodores within seven.
A Khordae Sydnor sack forced a Longhorn punt, but Texas's Liona Lefau picked Pavia and returned it six yards to the Vandy 29 on fourth-and-2 on the Commodores' ensuing possession. Auburn's 23-yard field goal with 1:57 left extended the lead to 10. Vandy's Pavia connected with Eli Stowers on an 8-yard score with 46.