Texas football: 3 takeaways from massive upset of No. 3 Alabama

3. Texas is back

The phrase “Texas is back” was a joke for a long time. It served as the catchphrase for a series of false starts for the program, flashes in the pan in which the hype far outweighed the reality.

That’s no longer the case.

The Longhorns played a 1-point game against Alabama last year and got this victory on Saturday night. Against the best dynasty in the sport, Texas has stood toe-to-toe and come out on top.

They’ve also taken control of their biggest rivalry in the Red River Shootout, beating Oklahoma last year by a resounding 49-0.

This is the furthest along the program has been since 2005. Of course, that year ended with a national title.

There’s still a lot of winning to be done to return to that former glory, but Steve Sarkisian has created some serious optimism in Austin, and now he’s delivering result after result to validate that excitement.