Texas beats BYU in Maalik Murphy's first start to move into first-place tie in Big 12

While giving a postgame summary to the media Saturday evening, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian told reporters that "we haven't played our best yet."

"To me, that's a little bit exciting to know that our best is still out there, that we can play better," Sarkisian continued. "I think it goes without saying we're going to need to play better. But I'm going to be really proud of our guys on this one."

BYU might beg to differ. The Cougars, after all, had just been beaten 35-6 by Texas at Royal-Memorial Stadium. No. 7 Texas (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) also used the win to move into a first-place tie in the conference standings due to Oklahoma's loss at Kansas. Texas finds itself knotted at 4-1 with OU, Kansas State and Iowa State.

Saturday's 29-point conquest also made a winner of quarterback Maalik Murphy, who was starting for the first time in place of an injured Quinn Ewers. Before Saturday, Murphy had appeared in only four games and had thrown eight passes.

The redshirt freshman quickly found out that a young and inexperienced quarterback's best friend is a solid rushing attack. And a sure-handed receiver. And a strong defense.

Maalik Murphy steps in for Ewers

Of UT's 354 total yards, 184 were picked up on the ground. Jonathon Brooks rushed for a game-high 98 yards and a touchdown. Jaydon Blue had a 34-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and CJ Baxter and Keilan Robinson both were involved in the running game.

"We believe in running the football, we take a lot of pride in our ability to run the football, and we take a lot of pride in the versatility of our run game," Sarkisian said. "We're not a 'quarterback run' team. I know a lot of people can steal yards with quarterback runs and different things. Ours are run-driven, and our guys are blocking well. I think we're playing in unison."

Murphy spread his 16 completions out among five targets. Brooks, tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders and receiver Xavier Worthy all had four catches, but it was Adonai Mitchell who scored on two of his three. Those 13- and 30-yard scores gave Mitchell the second two-touchdown game of his junior year.

"Me and the receivers, we kind of just told (Murphy) that we got him," Mitchell said. "The worst thing that can happen is it being an incompletion versus an interception. I feel like he had the confidence in us and we had the confidence in him as well."

Texas defense saved the day

Then there was that defense. Over four first-quarter drives, Texas limited BYU to 12 total yards. The Longhorns ended up allowing just 292 yards and two short field goals. They got interceptions from Terrance Brooks and Michael Taaffe and a forced fumble by Justice Finkley, and they forced a turnover on downs at their 20-yard line.

Texas is now allowing 17.4 points per game. The Longhorns entered the game with the No. 17 scoring defense.

"I feel like we've been just honestly taking things from each week and just trying to get better on that and focusing on that, and today was a representation of that," defensive lineman Barryn Sorrell said.

As for Murphy, the quarterback completed 16 of 25 passes for 170 yards. The two touchdowns to Mitchell were the first of his career.

BYU deferred after winning the coin toss, so there wasn't a wait to see Murphy. Ahead of the first snap, he was seen dancing on the field. "He's from Cali. He's got swag," UT defensive back Jahdae Barron said.

"I would say I was ready 100%," Murphy said. "Ready to come in and help the team and help any way I could contribute to a win."

Texas still has red zone, turnover issues to fix

Texas has scored 30 points in every game. But the Longhorns wasted two additional scoring opportunities Saturday. On a fourth-and-goal from the BYU 2 in the third quarter, Sanders was tackled short of the end zone on a quick pass. In the final frame, Brooks was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 run also from the 2.

For the season, Texas is 13-for-21 on fourth-down conversions.

Murphy also committed two turnovers. He was intercepted in the first quarter and lost a fumble when he was sacked on a play that started at the BYU 11 in the second quarter.

After the game, Sarkisian said those two turnovers weren't just on the quarterback. On the interception, Sarkisian said Murphy needed to take a sack on that play, but that there also was miscommunication among the receivers and the proper routes weren't run. The fumble featured two potential blockers running into each other.

"We've got to execute better around him, but the way that he responded from both of those two turnovers I thought were great," Sarkisian said. "Maalik's got really good composure about him. I think a little bit was the guys wanted to play so well around him. Sometimes you can try a little too hard, you're trying to make up for other stuff, and we just need guys to do their jobs and do their jobs really well."

After besting BYU, a team Sarkisian once quarterbacked, Texas will turn its attention to next weekend's 11 a.m. home game with Kansas State (6-2, 4-1). The Wildcats have lost six straight games in the series with Texas.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football beats BYU with defense, new starting QB Maalik Murphy