Texas Football: 3 takeaways from Alamo Bowl win over Utah

1. Psychology lesson

It’s difficult to really know how much bowl game victories outside of winning a national championship mean beyond the extra practices teams get to assess the progress of younger players.

There were two possible narrative for the Utes.

First, it was the championship game hangover narrative. They lost the Pac-12 title to Oregon which also cost them a possible spot in the playoff, so why even care about this game. San Antonio is probably really nice this time of year, but it isn’t the College Football Playoff.

The second narrative is to send Zack Moss, Tyler Huntley and the best senior class in the history of Utah football out with a bang. It seems as if the first narrative rang true for the Utes.

For the Longhorns, this win was a make up for a disappointing season. Texas was decimated by injuries on both sides of the ball, and they had to play a lot of players who weren’t ready to play big time college football. The hardships of their season included a last second win against Kansas and a loss to lowly TCU.

This bowl game might not mean much in the grand scheme of the Longhorns’ program — Sam Ehlinger declared the Longhorns “back” after last season’s Sugar Bowl win — but it was a good win after a less than stellar season.