Week 2, September 9: Texas 34, Alabama 24. Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Longhorns' first road win in Tuscaloosa in the program's history. Quinn Ewers, Adonai Mitchell's late score, and the SEC-move preview everybody noticed.
2023 — Texas Is Back — The Sentence, In Full
Texas went 12-2, won the Big 12, earned a CFP semifinal berth, and beat Alabama 34-24 in Tuscaloosa in September — the sentence that closed a fifteen-year restoration.
The Shape — week-by-week · cumulative W–L below
Who carried it
- Quinn EwersQB3,479 passing yards
- Maalik MurphyQB477 passing yards
- Jonathon BrooksRB1,139 rushing yards
- CJ BaxterRB659 rushing yards
- Jaydon BlueRB398 rushing yards
- Xavier WorthyWR1,014 receiving yards
- Adonai MitchellWR845 receiving yards
- Ja'Tavion SandersTE682 receiving yards
- Jaylan FordLB96 tackles
- Anthony Hill Jr.LB66 tackles
- Jahdae BarronDB55 tackles
- Ethan BurkeLB4.5 sacks
- Byron Murphy IIDL4.5 sacks
- Barryn SorrellLB3 sacks
Season leaders, 2023.
Big 12 Championship, December 2. Texas 49, Oklahoma State 21. The last Big 12 title game for Texas; the program closed its Big 12 membership with a trophy, en route to the SEC.
CFP Semifinal, Sugar Bowl, January 1, 2024. Washington 37, Texas 31. Ewers threw for 300-plus; the Longhorns cut the margin to six in the fourth. Michael Penix Jr. outplayed Ewers in the critical drives. One game short of Alabama.
"Texas is back."
2023 is the chapter where 'Texas is back' stopped being a punchline and became the record. The Alabama road win in Week 2 was the SEC-move preview the league's schedule-makers noticed; the Big 12 title was the conference farewell; the CFP semifinal was the ceiling of Sark's second phase. The restoration chapter closed: Texas had spent fifteen years explaining what it used to be, and the 2023 season rewrote the tense. The SEC transition one year later was not a pivot from this season; it was this season's second act.