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The Texas Longhorns expect to have one of the best defenses in the Big 12. What they saw in their first game was a unit capable of making the big plays that can win a game and give up the kind that can lose one.
The No. 17 Longhorns (1-0) gave up two long touchdown passes, but also forced two turnovers that set up touchdowns and made a key fourth-down stop late in a 37-17 win over Wyoming.
Senior safety Kenny Vaccaro suggested the defense got off to a slow start because players spent too much time listening to and believing media reports of how good they could be.
''Honestly we need to get our head out of the magazine and start fast and play hard,'' Vaccaro said.
The Longhorns trailed 9-7 in the first quarter after the Cowboys hit an 82-yard catch-and-run TD pass. Texas defensive back Carrington Byndom and Adrian Phillips collided, taking each other out of the play.
''That's my bad,'' Byndom said. ''I should make the tackle.''
On the next two Wyoming possessions, Vaccaro and Byndom had interceptions that set up Texas' next two touchdowns. Vaccaro's interception came with an acrobatic leap with perfect time to snag what would have been a touchdown pass if he hadn't grabbed it.
Vaccaro then pressured Wyoming quarterback Brett Smith into a bad throw that Byndom intercepted. Vaccaro was the only player in secondary singled out for praise from coach Mack Brown after the game.
''If you give up and 80-yard pass, you can't say your secondary played well. Kenny Vaccaro played well,'' Brown said, noting several blown coverages, including a 22-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.
Texas sacked Smith just once and the Cowboys averaged a whopping 17 yards per catch with six passes covering 14 yards or more.
Texas had up to eight missed tackles in the first half, but cut that to one in the second, defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said. The Longhorns also allowed Wyoming to convert just one of 11 third downs.
Several Texas players said tackling in the first game can be sloppy after a preseason filled with the ''thump rule'' coaches use in hopes of avoiding injuries. Players practice up to the point of contact, but do not take each other to the ground. It saves bumps and bruises - or worse - but can lead to bad habits on defense.
''You haven't been tackling for so long,'' Byndom said. ''But it comes back to you pretty quick, kind of like riding a bike.''
Tackling tightened up as the game wore on. After Wyoming's second touchdown early in a fourth quarter, a Texas turnover gave the Cowboys a chance to cut the Longhorns' lead to seven. The defense stopped Smith a yard shy of the first down marker at the Texas nine.
''We played well,'' defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat said. ''We didn't play our best.''
The Longhorns expect one lineup change for the Saturday's game against New Mexico (1-0), which uses a triple-option rushing attack. Junior college transfer Brandon Moore, one of the few in Brown's 15 seasons at Texas, will start at defensive tackle ahead of sophomore Desmond Jackson. Moore had two tackles against Wyoming, both behind the line of scrimmage.
