'It backfires when you talk (expletive).' Article fires up Texas football - USA Today

KNOXVILLE, TN – Got to hand it to The Athletic. It keeps finding a way to fuel Texas’ fire.

This time, it was an article that published ahead of No. 1 Texas’ game against Tennessee. In the story, veteran sportswriter Bruce Feldman quoted an anonymous coach, who faced Texas this season, describing the Longhorns as being “soft everywhere.”

The coach also told The Athletic the Longhorns lacked “an edge.”

That assessment made its way to the Texas locker room.

“I’m not sure who wrote the article (this week) and what coach said we weren’t a physical football team, but they may want to write another article,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said after his Longhorns survived No. 13 Tennessee, 20-17, at Neyland Stadium.

Texas made plenty of mistakes, including one bizarre penalty, and it’d be fair to say its offensive line looked soft. Tennessee sacked Arch Manning six times.

However, Texas’ defensive line made sure Bevo’s latest trip along the tightrope didn’t end in disaster. Texas sacked Vols quarterback Faizon Brandon 10 times and limited Tennessee to 221 yards of offense.

“It backfires when you talk (expletive),” Texas defensive tackle Hero Kanu said, a nod to The Athletic story.

To be clear, it wasn’t the Vols doing the chirping, but rather an anonymous coach. And that coach might have a point about Texas’ offense.

Anyway, the assessment apparently motivated Texas.

It was one year ago a column published by The Athletic and promoted by the New York Times branded Arch Manning as the first flop in college football history, in a piece of content destined for the Hyperbole Hall of Fame.

Manning took that criticism in stride.

“Everyone has their own opinion,” Manning he said at the time.

As for the latest opinion that Texas is “soft,” the Vols and their quarterback paid the price.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

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