If defense wins championships, Justin Cryer thinks the Texas football team has a shot this season.
"We can win any game 3-0 if it's got to be like that," the Longhorns linebacker said Monday. "I think we're that good."
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What Cryer is saying is partially hyperbole. Texas hasn't yet posted a shutout and the Longhorns last won a 3-0 game in 1931. The senior, however, has a reason to be confident. On defense, the Longhorns (4-1, 1-1) are arguably playing on a championship level, allowing 16.0 points per game. If you ignore the three touchdowns that have been scored by an opponent's defense or special teams, that average dips to 11.8.
That defensive performance - which has come against a combination of Power Four teams Ohio State, Tennessee and Oklahoma and mid-major programs Texas State and UTSA - stacks up favorably with champions of the SEC's past. Of the last 10 conference champions, only three allowed more than 20 points per game:
• 2025 Georgia: 17.6 ppg
• 2024 Georgia: 20.6 ppg
• 2023 Alabama: 19.0 ppg
• 2022 Georgia: 14.3 ppg
• 2021 Alabama: 20.1 ppg
• 2020 Alabama: 19.4 ppg
• 2019 LSU: 21.9 ppg
• 2018 Alabama: 18.1 ppg
• 2017 Georgia: 16.4 ppg
• 2016 Alabama: 13.0 ppg
As it heads into this Saturday's matchup against Florida (4-2, 2-2), Texas is 21st nationally in scoring defense. The FBS leader in scoring defense is Miami at 9.8 points per game while Georgia is allowing an SEC-low 14.0 points.
"I love the way we're playing defensively," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "I think that we've really done a good job of minimizing the explosive plays, we've created negative plays and we've done a pretty good job of keeping people out of the end zone."
There are still plenty of things to nitpick for Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, who worked in various capacities at Georgia the past four seasons. The Longhorns have forced just five turnovers, none of them in conference play. Oklahoma scored 17 points in the fourth quarter of its 27-24 Red River Rivalry comeback win last weekend and Tennessee staged a last-minute rally to make Texas sweat in the Longhorns' 20-17 win last month.
"We've got to keep forcing the issue of trying to create the turnovers, and then we've got to make sure that we're playing all four quarters," Sarkisian said. "But man, we're playing at a high level, at a very high clip. I'm really proud of those guys."
Texas also needs offense, special teams to show up
So, the defense is playing well. But as Sarkisian often states, the Longhorns believe in complementary football. That means the offense and special teams also have to do their part.
Boosted by the 59 points it tallied in the season opener, Texas is averaging 31.4 points per game, which is an average that's below each of the SEC's last 19 champions. In the same vein, Texas ha committed a litany of errors on special teams over the past two games.
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Last season, UT edge rusher Colin Simmons brushed off the critiques of his offensive teammates after a 16-13 overtime win at Kentucky, saying, "We're a whole team. It ain't just defense and special teams, it's defense, special teams and offense." When asked Saturday if he still believed those words after Texas' offense and special teams struggled enough against OU for Sarkisian's play-calling and special teams coordinator Jeff Banks' job status to be called into question, Simmons said yes.
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NO. 7 TEXAS VS. FLORIDA
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"I still feel the same way with what I said in that Kentucky game," said Simmons, a junior who leads the country with his 9½ sacks. "I just feel that we've just got to make it happen faster in the game instead of waiting."
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This article originally published at Can Texas really win any game 3-0? The No. 7 Longhorns can't just rely on their defense.